




















































LITTLE BEAR 
STORIES 








LITTLE BEAR 
STORIES 


By 

FRANCES MARGARET FOX 

Author of: The Little Bear Books, The Kinder kins, 
Janey, and Ellen Jane 


Illustrations by 

WALT HARRIS 



RAND M9NALLY & COMPANY 


CHICAGO 


NEW YORK 


Copyright, 1024, by 
Rand M9Nally & Company 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The stories in this book 
are reprinted by permission of the 
Youth's Companion 



Made in U. S. A. 


DEC -‘3 i924 

©C1A815102 

l 


To my dear little friend 

Virginia ffirane 








THE STORIES 


PAGE 

Forget-me-not Trail. 9 

Laughing Time.22 

Learning to Swim.29 

No Place Like Home.36 

The Lost Otter Baby.47 

The Nearest Way Home.56 

The Wildcat Babies ,.66 

The Woodchuck Babies.73 

Leading the Procession . 81 

Little Bear Runs Away.91 

A Visit to a School. 105 

Little Bear’s Wish.114 

Father Bear’s Gumdrops.122 

When Little Bear Bragged.132 

Little Bear’s Task.139 

Mother Skunk’s Kindness.150 

Little Bear’s Errand.15S 

The Surprise Party.167 


7 












Mother Rabbit said nothing to Little Bear, but just winked 
and wrinkled her nose 


LITTLE BEAR 
STORIES 


FORGET-ME-NOT TRAIL 

NCE a traveling brown bear 
came visiting the Three Bears 
in their house in the woods. 
He was a kind old fellow, 
and wise, but fond of joking. 

After Little Bear had gone 
off to bed, Father Bear and 
Mother Bear were visiting 
with the stranger by their cozy fireside. 
The brown bear said he was pleased 
to see one young bear in the forest 
who obeyed and went to bed when 
he was told. 

“And it pleases me,” said the old 
brown bear, “to meet a young bear 



9 


10 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

who doesn’t think that all the bears 
in the woods should bow down to him 
because he does a good deed ! Young 
bears like that are not common.” 

No one spoke; so the old bear went 
on: “Today I lost my staff over the 
cliff, and your son went down and 
brought it back to me.” 

“Quite right, sir,” said Father Bear. 

“Yes,” agreed the old bear, “but 
when I wanted to reward him with a 
few honey-dried blackberries, he ran 
away. As he ran he called merrily 
over his shoulder, ‘ Thank you, sir, 
but what I did wasn’t worth being 
paid for! Please forget it!’” 

The old brown bear rose clumsily 
and began to fill the pockets of Little 
Bear’s trousers with honey-dried black¬ 
berries. Soon the pockets were full 
and the trousers, which hung on a 
chair, were weighted down with the 
dried fruit. 


FORGET-ME-NOT TRAIL 


11 


After that, Father Bear, Mother 
Bear, and the old brown bear talked 
about how young bears should be 
brought up. The old bear said he 
should like to try to find out how 
many of the young bears in the forest 
were learning obedience. When he 
explained what he wanted to do Father 
Bear said, “Good, good!” but Mother 
Bear was not so sure. She said she 
was afraid that even Little Bear might 
not stand the test their guest had in 
mind. 

The next day Father Bear intro¬ 
duced the brown bear to all the father 
bears in the neighborhood. They were 
proud to meet so famous a traveler 
and gladly agreed to his plan for test¬ 
ing the young bears. And so the 
next day all the young bears in the 
neighborhood were called to meet on 
Little Bear’s playground. They all 
came and behaved very well. Indeed 


12 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


they were so polite Little Bear almost 
felt as if he were among strangers. 
He, too, was very dignified and careful. 
No mother bears or father bears were 
present. 

The old brown bear made a speech. 
He said he wished to meet all the 
young bears in a spot in the wildwood. 
There he would have swings ready for 
them, he said, and a pool for them to 
splash in, and plenty of good things 
to eat. He was planning a game for 
their parents, too. He called the 
game, “Find Your Child.” 

“If you choose,” he went on to 
say, “you can have a very good 
time, whether you are well-behaved 
young bears or not, for you will be 
kept safe and well amused. But unless 
you wish to grieve your parents, obey 
their parting words. When I pass in the 
morning each of you must be waiting 
at his gate. I shall then whisper in 


FORGET-ME-NOT TRAIL 


13 


your ear the name of our secret meet¬ 
ing place. You must at once set out 
for it in a bee line.” 

The next morning Little Bear was 
waiting at the gate when the traveling 
brown bear came by. The brown bear 
had already called at the other front 
gates in the neighborhood. 

“Meet me at Jolly Park Glen,” 
whispered the old brown bear. “ I 
shall be there before you, for I shall 
travel by the tunnel route. You go 
by the bee line. Now, scoot!” 

“ Remember, Son Bear,” Father Bear 
called, “to be polite to everybody you 
meet! If you do a kind deed, remem¬ 
ber to forget it!” 

“Remember to forget it!” called 
Mother Bear in a trembling voice. 
Mother Bear did not like this special 
adventure. 

Little Bear nodded, waved his hand, 
and hurried along on his bee-line path. 


14 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


He had not gone far in the forest 
when an old squirrel tumbled from an 
oak tree and lost all his nuts. Little 
Bear stopped to pick them up for him. 



An old squirrel tumbled down from an oak tree and lost the nuts 

“You are kind, Little Bear, and I 
thank you,’’ said the squirrel. 

Little Bear answered politely, “Oh, 
that was only a pleasure,’’ and at 
once forgot that he had done a kind 


FORGET-ME-NOT TRAIL 


15 


deed. Then when he looked over his 
shoulder to wave his hand he saw a 
strange sight. The squirrel was plant¬ 
ing a forget-me-not. 

On ran Little Bear until he found 
a lost baby rabbit who was crying 
sadly. “Where do you live?” asked 
Little Bear. 

“Back under the pink wild-rose 
bush,” answered the baby rabbit. “Oh, 
do carry me home by the ears!” 

Little Bear did so, but the mother 
rabbit did not even say, “Thank you.” 
She spanked the baby rabbit for run- 
ping away. Then she calmly chewed 
a dandelion leaf, tip-end first, rabbit 
fashion. She said nothing to Little 
Bear, but just winked and wrinkled 
her nose. For a minute Little Bear felt 
cross to think he had gone out of his 
way to be a nurse for a baby rabbit. 
He felt cross because he had not even 
been thanked for it. 


16 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

Then, “Never mind,’’ he said to 
himself, and ran merrily on his way. 
He turned round to wave his hand at 



Little Bear goes traveling down Forget-me-not Trail 


the mother rabbit. But she was busy 
planting a forget-me-not and did not 
see him. 

Little Bear did a great many kind 
deeds before he reached Jolly Park 
Glen, and forgot them all. He let them 
slide right off his mind. But he could 
not forget that many wildwood folk 
were busy planting that morning. He 


FORGET-ME-NOT TRAIL 


17 


wondered why they were all planting 
forget-me-nots. 

Little Bear ran into the glen, dancing 
for joy. He had traveled lightly and 
happily all the way. Now when he met 
the old brown bear in the glen he was 
brimming over with good nature. 

“Am I the first one to get here?” 
asked Little Bear. He didn’t hear the 
other bears playing. 

“No,” said the old brown bear, 
“your young friends are all here. But 
they are tired because they carried 
unpleasant thoughts on the way.” 

Sure enough, there were the other 
little bears, sitting around on stumps, 
all feeling much too cross to play. 

“What is the trouble?” asked Little 
Bear. 

“We were badly treated on our 
journey,” said one. “All the wild- 
wood folk wanted us to work for 
them. Then, when we did stop once 


18 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

in a while to help them we didn’t get 
any thanks. When we looked back, 
instead of tending their gardens, they 
were all planting brambles!” 

Just then the forest band began to 
play. After an hour or two Father 
Bear and Mother Bear came into the 
glen. Each of them carried a huge 
bouquet of forget-me-nots. 

“Do you wish to stay here and 
play?” asked Mother Bear. She looked 
into her son’s face. 

“No, thank you,” answered Little 
Bear. “There is no fun here, even if 
there are swings and a pool.” 

The old brown bear served honey, 
berries, and ice cream, and then the 
Three Bears went back home happy. 
As they left the glen the little bears 
who were to wait for their parents set 
up a howl. 

“How did you find me so quickly? ” 
asked Little Bear. 


FORGET-ME-NOT TRAIL 


19 


“We followed the forget-me-not 
trail.’’ 

“The forget-me-not trail!’’ said 
Little Bear in surprise. 

“Yes, your footsteps along the bee¬ 
line path were marked by blooming 
forget-me-nots, and so we had no 
trouble in finding you.” 

Little Bear looked thoughtful. Then 
he began to skip and sing as usual. 

Late that afternoon Father Bear 
came in looking worried. “The bears 
in the forest are all in tears,” he said, 
“because they cannot follow their 
children. Brambles have grown up in 
the children’s footsteps. They are so 
high and so thick no one can get 
through.” 

“Oh, why didn’t we ask the name 
of the place where their children are 
waiting!” cried Mother Bear. 

“I know the name!” exclaimed 
Little Bear. “It is our old picnic 


20 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


place, Jolly Park Glen! The father 
and mother bears can get there easily 
and quickly by the tunnel route. Let 
me go and tell the fathers and mothers 
about it.” 

Little Bear raced off, and soon there 
was a tramp of footsteps, slip-slop, 
slip-slop, slip-slop! through the tunnel 
leading to Jolly Park Glen. 

The old traveling brown bear heard 
the parents coming. “Good night, 
children,” he said to the unhappy 
little bears. Then he hurried away, 
slip-slop, slip-slop, slip-slop! He left 
the honey and berries and ice cream 
behind. When the father and mother 
bears reached the glen not a single 
little bear had tasted a mouthful. 

The next day came many, many 
grateful father bears and mother bears. 
They came to thank Little Bear for 
his kindness in coming to tell them 
where to find their children. 


FORGET-ME-NOT TRAIL 


21 


“Oh, that was nothing!” said Little 
Bear. “Please forget it.” 

Then politely, but with mischief in 
his eyes, Little Bear stuck a sprig of 
forget-me-not behind his ear and ran 
away to play. 



LAUGHING TIME 


One morning big Father Bear and 
Little Bear went for a walk. Middle- 
sized Mother Bear stayed at home to 
put the porridge over the fire and have 
breakfast ready for them when they 
came back. 

It was a fine summer morning, and 
Father Bear and Little Bear were happy. 
They were just beginning to have what 
Little Bear called a “laughing time.” 
Then something dreadful happened. 
Father Bear stepped into a trap! 

He was walking along looking at 
the tree tops instead of at the ground 
under his feet. All at once down he 
went, down, down into a deep hole! 
Little Bear would have stepped into 
the hole, too, if he had not been 
chasing a butterfly. 


22 


LAUGHING TIME 


23 


“Climb a tree quickly, Son Bear, 
so no one can get you,” said Father 
Bear. “This looks to me like boys’ 
work. Up you go, and don’t you cry!” 

Up a tree went Little Bear quickly, 
and he didn’t cry. 

“Boys have done this,” Father Bear 
went on. “You see, they dug a deep 
hole and put branches across it. Then 
they piled earth on top of the branches, 
and here I am!” 

And just then, out from the bushes 
dashed six big boys, laughing and 
shouting, “We caught him! We caught 
him!” 

“He must be a good-natured old 
fellow,” cried one of the boys. “He 
winked at me as if he would like to 
tell us a joke!” 

Sure enough, Father Bear winked first 
at one boy and then at another until 
all were standing beside the trap, laugh¬ 
ing with him and laughing at him. 


24 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


But that was not Little Bear’s 
laughing time. 

After the boys had laughed at 
Father Bear and poked fun at him, 
they started back to camp to tell their 
fathers they had caught one of the 
Three Bears in a trap. 

“You will soon be traveling with 
a circus, Mr. Bear!” one boy called 




back. “We shall 
bring ropes and tie 
you hand and foot.” 

And that was not 
Little Bear’s laughing 
time. 

“Now, then,” said 
Father Bear to Little 
■ Bear when the boys \M!>j 
were gone, “we must w!f 
work quickly, and 
mind you don’t cry! 
There is no time for 
tears when you are in 



LAUGHING TIME 25 



trouble. Go and ask 
Friend Blue Jay to 
call all our neighbors. 
And then you, Son 
Bear, begin at once to 
roll stones and lumps 
of earth into this hole 
for me to stand on.” 

Little Bear went 
and did as his father 
told him. At once 
Friend Blue Jay 
spread the news that 
Father Bear was in a 
bear trap and needed 
help. When it was all 
over Father Bear said 
he didn t know he had 
so many friends till 
he was in trouble. 

The friends al 1 
came running from 
every direction to help 


26 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


Little Bear roll stones into the hole 
and to throw lumps of earth into it. 
All the time Father Bear had to keep 
dancing and dodging to keep them from 
hitting his feet and head. 

But that was not Little Bear’s 
laughing time. 

Soon so much had been thrown into 
the pit that the top of Father Bear’s 
head could be seen. Then Little Bear, 
Bob and Maria Wildcat, the Beaver 
family, the Otters, the Squirrels, the 
Chipmunks, and all the other wild- 
wood friends worked harder than ever. 
Pretty soon they had so many stones 
and so much earth in the bottom of 
the hole Father Bear said he knew he 
could climb out if some of them would 
reach down and help him. They 
reached down and took hold of him 
and pulled hard—and out he came. 

At that very moment back came 
the men and boys with a rope to 


LAUGHING TIME 


27 


capture big Father Bear and tie him 
hand and foot. But when they saw 
Father Bear had scrambled out of the 
hole and all his friends and neighbors 
were walking around him shaking hands, 
they ran away. Every boy and man 
turned and ran as fast as he could. 
The tallest man went flying through the 
woods so fast he looked like a straight 
line. The fat man hustled along so fast 
he might have been taken for a rubber 
ball. The boys! They scattered like 
autumn leaves before the north wind. 

That was Little Bear’s laughing time! 

“It was the funniest sight I ever 
saw,” he said, when the Three Bears 
at last sat down to breakfast. 

Ever afterward, when Little Bear 
thought of how funny the tall man, the 
fat man, and the boys looked running 
away from good-natured Father Bear 
and their kind neighbors, that was 
another laughing time. 



All at once the log began to move. 


Then over it rolled 



















LEARNING TO SWIM 


Last summer Little Bear went on 
a long journey with Father Bear and 
Mother Bear. The Three Bears had 
a beautiful time walking through the 
big forest until they came to the banks 
of a deep, swift river. Then there was 
trouble, for Little Bear could not 
swim, nor did he wish to learn how to 
swim. He said he was afraid of the 
water. 

“Anyway, Father Bear can just as 
well carry me over the river,” Little 
Bear said. 

“Nonsense!” replied big Father 
Bear in gruff tones. “Nonsense, my 
son ! You are old enough and strong 
enough to learn to swim. I will not 
carry you across the stream. Neither 
shall your mother.” 

29 


30 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


Just then Father Otter came by, 
swimming like a seal, and twisting 
and turning in the water like a fish. 

“Perhaps the good Otter will teach 
Little Bear how to swim,” Mother 
Bear said, and called to him. 

“ It is the easiest thing in the world 
to teach a little bear how to swim,” 
answered Father Otter. “Just throw 
him in ! ” And away he went, laughing 
over his shoulder. 

“He must be joking,” Mother Bear 
said quickly. She was afraid Father 
Bear would toss Little Bear into the 
river, and she did not like the idea. 

At that moment Mother Otter came 
swimming down the river with her 
children. One of them climbed upon 
her shoulders and stared round-eyed 
at Little Bear on the river bank. 

“Good morning! ” said Mother Bear. 

“Good morning!” answered Mother 
Otter. 


LEARNING TO SWIM 


31 


“Your children are fine swimmers,” 
added Mother Bear. 

“Certainly,” replied Mother Otter. 
“Every one of them knows that our 
people have been famous swimmers, 
for ages.” 

“ I suppose, then,” said Mother 
Bear, “all your children were born 
swimmers. You probably had trouble 
in keeping them out of the water 
when they were babies.” 

Mother Otter laughed merrily. Then 
she said, “The trouble was to get 
them into the water. The silly little 
things were afraid. All young otters 
are afraid of the water, and you 
have to push them into it.” 

“You don’t mean it!” exclaimed 
Mother Bear, in great surprise. 

“ Indeed I do,” replied Mother 
Otter. “We had to push every one of 
our children into the water. Does 
Little Bear know how to swim?” 


32 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

“No,” answered Mother Bear, shak¬ 
ing her head. “He is afraid to try.” 

“Duck him,” advised Mother Otter. 
“Duck him. There is no other way 
to teach a little bear to swim.” 

And away she went, hurrying down 
the stream, to overtake Father Otter. 

The little Otters kept looking back, 
hoping to see Father Bear toss Little 
Bear into the river. But Mother Bear 
begged him not to teach Little Bear 
to swim that day, so the little Otters 
missed the fun. 

That night the Three Bears camped 
beside the deep, swift river. Little 
Bear was soon fast asleep cuddled 
down in his bed of leaves and springy 
boughs. Then Mother Bear made 
Father Bear promise not to toss Little 
Bear into the river unless Little Bear 
said he wanted him to. 

The next morning Father Bear was 
sorry he . had made the promise to 


LEARNING TO SWIM 


33 


Mother Bear. He was sorry because 
an honest-looking polecat who came 
across the stream told Father Bear and 
Mother Bear that across on the other 
shore the largest, sweetest blackberries 
in the forest were ripe. 

“But,” whispered Mother Bear to 
Father Bear, “aren’t you sorry now 
you told him we wouldn’t carry him 
over? ” 

“Sure enough, I am,” agreed Father 
Bear. And then he laughed at the 
joke on himself. 

“Well,” said Mother Bear at last, “ I 
shall coax Little Bear to let you toss 
him gently into the river. I shall be 
ready to catch him if he cannot swim.” 

“ Nonsense! ” grumbled Father Bear. 
Then he stopped laughing and said, 
“While you coax, I shall go for a 
walk.” 

But coaxing did not do any good. 
When Little Bear saw his father 


34 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


wander away he told his mother he did 
not feel like going into the water that 
morning. He hoped she would please 
excuse him. So Mother Bear excused 
him. 

Soon Father Bear came back, smil¬ 
ing and happy. “I’ve found a bridge 
for Little Bear,’’ said he. “An old log 
has fallen across the river a little way 
upstream. In the woods on the other 
side of the stream the blackberries are 
almost as big as duck’s eggs. Little 
Bear can walk across on the log.” 

“All right, I’ll do it,” promised 
Little Bear. He followed his father 
gladly until the Three Bears reached 
the bridge. 

Then Little Bear ran ahead and 
began skipping joyfully over the log. 
He was trying to reach the opposite 
bank before his father and mother 
could swim across. All at once the 
log began to move. Then over it rolled, 


LEARNING TO SWIM 


35 


and sent Little Bear with a great splash 
into the river. He knew enough to keep 



his mouth shut, and in a little while 
up he bobbed, shaking his head to get 
the water out of his eyes and his ears 
and paddling like a duck. That was 
all there was to it. Ever after that, 
Little Bear could swim. 

Mother Bear believes to this day 
that Father Bear knew the log would 
roll over. She believes it for, whenever 
any one asks him, he says nothing, 
but just laughs. 


NO PLACE LIKE HOME 


One morning Mother Bear looked 
up from her work just in time to see a 
merry-looking young black bear walk¬ 
ing up the garden path from the river. 
He carried a stick over his shoulder, and 
a bundle swung from the end of it. 

“Who can he be?” asked Father 
Bear, in big big-bear tones. As he 
.spoke he left his work to look through 
the open window. 

“Who can he be?” asked Mother 
Bear, in middle-sized-bear tones. 

“Who can he be?” piped in Little 
Bear, in his shrill baby-bear voice. As 
the stranger came up the path he sang: 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la-la-la. 

Oh, let me live in the greenwood, 

The greenwood, the greenwood! 

36 


NO PLACE LIKE HOME 


37 


Then, with a hop and a skip and a 
jump, the merry-looking young bear 
came to knock at the Bears’ back door. 



Cousin Blueberry Bear out for himself 

“Why, Blueberry Bear!” exclaimed 
Mother Bear, as the stranger lifted his 
cap and walked in. “I didn’t know 
you! How you have grown! Why, 
Father Bear, this is Cousin Black Bear’s 


38 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


eldest son! How are you, child? 
Come, Little Bear, this is your Cousin 
Blueberry! How you have grown, 
child! ” 

Blueberry shook hands all round. 
Then he stood, smiling from ear to ear, 
until he was asked to be seated. 

“I have left home to look out for 
myself,” he said, as he sat down on the 
wash bench and laid his bundle beside 
him. “ My father told me I had better 
camp near you, so I should have some 
one to tell me what to do.” 

“You shall live right here with us,” 
said Mother Bear. 

But Blueberry shook his head, say¬ 
ing, “Father says I am big enough to 
begin looking out for myself. I must 
be off now to build myself a camp.” 

The Three Bears then helped young 
Blueberry build himself a camp half a 
mile from their house down on the 
river trail. When they left him that 


NO PLACE LIKE HOME 39 

afternoon he was gathering sticks for 
his camp fire, and singing as he worked: 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la-la-la. 

Oh, let me live in the greenwood, 

The greenwood, the greenwood! 

Little Bear walked backward until a 
bend in the road hid Blueberry’s camp 
from sight. Even then he stood still 
to listen a little longer to that merry 
voice. 

“When I get as big as he is, I am 
going to look out for myself,’’ he said. 
Then he, too, began to sing: 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la-la-la. 

Oh, let me live in the greenwood, 

The greenwood, the greenwood! 

Every day after that the Three 
Bears went to see Blueberry, and every 
day Blueberry came to see them. He 


40 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


used to thump Little Bear on the head 
and -say, “How are you, old man?” 
But he never played with him. No 
swinging in grapevine swings for him, 
no running races, no playing skipping 
games. He used to push his cap to 
the back of his head and talk with 
Father Bear about fishing and hunt¬ 
ing. He talked as if he were old enough 
to be the grandfather of the whole 
family. 

Little Bear liked to have Blueberry 
thump him hard on the head and say, 
“How are you, old man?” He used 
to wish and wish he were tall enough 
to thump back. But Little Bear could 
not reach the top of Blueberry’s head 
without standing on a stump 

After Blueberry came to camp in 
the forest, Little Bear began to talk 
about leaving home and looking out 
for himself. He talked about it from 
morning until night. As he talked he 


NO PLACE LIKE HOME 


41 


walked round with a stick over his 
shoulder, singing his loudest: 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la-la-la. 

Oh, let me live in the greenwood, 

The greenwood, the greenwood! 

Blueberry laughed when he heard 
about it. One day, after talking with 
Father Bear, he thumped Little Bear 
on the head and said: 

“Old man, why don’t you live 
with me, and learn to look out for 
yourself? ” 

“For always?’’ asked Little Bear. 

‘‘ Surely,’’ was the answer. “You are 
big enough. Pack up and come along.” 

“Shall I run away? Do you mean 
that?” 

“Certainly not! Never run away 
from home. Ask your father and your 
kind mother. Then start out like a 
brave young bear.” 


42 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

Little Bear was surprised when Father 
Bear said, “You may go, my son,” and 
Mother Bear said, “Yes, you may go.” 

So he went, with a stick over his 
shoulder and a bundle swinging from 
the end of it. And as he went down 
the trail he sang the same old song 
of the greenwood. 

Blueberry Bear welcomed Little 
Bear with open arms. All that first 
day Little Bear had a merry time. 
By night he was so tired that he went 
to sleep before the Man in the Moon 
looked down upon the camp. 

The next day the Two Bears came 
visiting. They found Little Bear 
getting sticks for the camp fire and 
having a merry time. Mother Bear, 
when she went home, walked backward 
until she reached the bend in the river 
road. Even then she stood still for a 
moment listening to Little Bear sing¬ 
ing in his shrill, happy voice. 


NO PLACE LIKE HOME 


43 


That night at bedtime Blueberry 
said to Little Bear, “Old man, I may 
get up after moonrise and go fishing. 
Do not worry about me if you wake 
up and find I am not here.” 

Little Bear did wake up in the 
moonlight. Blueberry was not in his 
bed. Little Bear did not worry about 
him, but he did want his mother. He 
wanted her so much that he stepped 
lightly out into the moonlight and 
started on the jump for home. When 
halfway there he ran bump into a big, 
soft somebody. It was his mother! 

“O Mother Bear!” cried Little 
Bear, with both arms around her big 
soft neck. “How did you ever know 
I wanted you?” 

“I didn’t know you wanted me,” 
was her answer. “But I wanted you 
so much I was coming after you.” 

Then the two laughed so merrily 
that Blueberry heard them and came 











NO PLACE LIKE HOME 45 

running, for he was near by, fishing 
in the river. 

At once Little Bear jumped upon 
a stump and thumped Blueberry hard 
on the shoulder. “Old man,’’ said he, 
“I am going home with my mother. 
She needs me, and I need her. We 
can’t get along without each other. 
I don’t care if you do laugh.” 

“I’m not laughing,” said Blueberry. 
“Do you think I should be so far 
from home if I had a mother? No, 
sir-ree! But I have no mother. If 
I had, big as I am and grown up, I 
should toss my fish pole over the 
moon and start for home this minute.” 

“Come with us tonight. Blueberry,” 
said Mother Bear gently, “and sleep on 
the couch at our house. It will be 
pleasanter going back to camp in the 
sunshine than by moonlight.” 

So that night Blueberry slept on 
the couch in the Three Bears’ house. 


46 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


In the morning sunshine he went back 
to camp, singing merrily: 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la, 

Tra-la-la-la-la. 

Oh, let me live in the greenwood, 

The greenwood, the greenwood! 

As for Little Bear, he danced all 
that day and sang the old-home tune 
with Father Bear and Mother Bear: 

Ta-de-dum, 

Ta-de-dum, 

Ta-de-dum-dum-dum! 

Little Bear had learned there is no 
olace like home. 


THE LOST OTTER BABY 


One morning, while Little Bear 
was out camping with his father and 
mother, he went into the woods to 
pick daisies and bluebells. His hands 
were full of flowers, and he was ready 
to go back with them to his mother, 
when he heard a baby crying. Little 
Bear stood still and listened. Then 
he knew that the crying child was an 
Otter baby. He had heard Otter 
babies cry before. 

“What is the matter, baby?’’ called 
Little Bear. “What are you crying 
about, and where are you? Did you 
bump your nose?” 

“I’m lost! Come and find me!” 
answered Baby Otter. 

“ I see you hiding behind the oak 
stump!” exclaimed Little Bear, as he 

47 


48 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

scrambled through the thicket and 
fairly pounced upon Baby Otter. “I 
spy!” he shouted. 

“It isn’t a game!” whimpered the 
Otter baby. ‘‘I tell you I’m lost! I 
don’t know where my mother went, 
and I can’t find my father! I want 
to go home, I do! Oh, boo-hoo-hoo!” 

“There, there, don’t cry,” said Little 
Bear. “Tell me where your home is, 
and I’ll take you there just as fast 
as we can go.” 

“But we do not live here !” whined 
the lost Otter baby. “Our home is 
Brookside, a long way off across 
country. We are only camping out, 
and I do not know where our camp 
is ! Boo-hoo-hoo-hoo ! ” 

“Come, come, cheer up!” said Little 
Bear, using the very words his father 
often used in speaking to him. “ I 
tell you I will take you home. If it 
is too far away I’ll ask my father to 


THE LOST OTTER BABY 49 

go. We are camping out, ourselves, 
down the river a little way. Now tell 
me how you got lost.” 

So the Otter baby told him that 
the Otter family had gone out walking 
that morning, after breakfast. While 
they were laughing and chatting Baby 
Otter had strayed away from the path 
to pick flowers. The next thing he 
knew he was alone, and, not knowing 
what else to do, he had sat down and 
cried. 

“Well, wipe your eyes now, and 
give me your paw!” said Little Bear 
in big, grown-up tones. “My father 
showed me an otter camp only yester¬ 
day. If you are one of the campers 
you live only a little way from here. 
I can take you home.” 

Of course Baby Otter wiped his 
eyes and walked happily behind Little 
Bear. He traveled in single file, otter 
fashion. 


4 


50 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


Now Father Bear had been teaching 
Little Bear how to follow the woods 



round stumps and under logs. Besides, 
their legs were so short and their 
bodies so heavy they always left well- 
worn trails behind them. 

At last Little Bear reached the end 
of the crooked path. There, without 
so much as saying “Thank you!’’ to 
Little Bear, Baby Otter ran to the 




THE LOST OTTER BABY 


51 


cave by the river bank where his family 
was camping out. 

“Some people always forget their 
manners,” said Little Bear to himself, 
as he ran home to tell his father and 
mother what he had done. 

“ I am glad you were good to the 
baby,” said Little Bear’s mother. She 
took the bluebells and daisies he had 
brought and put them into a hollow 
stump beside the cave door. She had 
filled the stump with water from the 
spring while Little Bear was gone. 

“The flowers are lovely!” said 
Mother Bear. “Now please run into 
the woods for some green leaves and 
vines to put with them.” 

Before Little Bear could do as she 
told him, Uncle John Kingfisher came 
flying to invite the Three Bears to a 
party. “The Otters,” said he, “request 
your presence at a fish dinner. Come 
now.” 


52 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


“We thank you for your kindness. 
Uncle John Kingfisher,” said Father 
Bear. “We shall start at once. Come, 
Little Bear, wash your hands and face 
and get ready.” 

That is how it came about that 
the Three Bears dined with the Otters 
that day on trout, salmon, and eels. 
They were served with only one bite 
from each fish, and that bite taken 
from the meat just behind the head. 
Mother Bear thought the Otters chose 
only one dainty morsel from each fish 
just because they had invited company 
for dinner. But Father Bear told her 
she was mistaken. The Otters always 
serve fish in that way when fish are 
plentiful. 

After dinner the Otters and their 
guests rested for a while. Then Father 
Otter invited the children to come 
out and play with him and Mother 
Otter. Much surprised, the Three Bears 


THE LOST OTTER BABY 53 

followed the Otters to their playground. 
And the next Father Bear and Mother 
Bear knew, Little Bear was sliding 
down the Otters’ toboggan slide and 



shouting with glee. All the Otters 
went lickety-split down that slide, one 
behind the other, landing splashety- 
splash ! in the river below. 

And it was a wonderful sight to see 
them swimming about in the stream. 
The Otters are beautiful swimmers. 
But what Father and Mother Bear 




54 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

liked best was watching Little Bear. 
He ran up the roundabout path to the 
top of the bank and went down the 
slide three times as fast as the Otter 
children and their parents. The Otters 
were more at home in the water than 
Little Bear, but they could not run on 
land as he could. 

Their next game they played with 
sticks. One Otter took the end of a 
stick in his mouth and another Otter 
took the other end, then they pulled 
and pulled to see which was the 
stronger. Little Bear did not like 
that game so well as he did the 
toboggan slide. 

At last it was time to go home. 
“We have had a lovely time at your 
party,” said Mother Bear to Mother 
Otter, “and we thank you for invit¬ 
ing us over. If you ever wander into 
our home woods, be sure and come to 
our house and have porridge with us.” 


THE LOST OTTER BABY 


55 


“We shall be glad to do so,” said 
Mother Otter. “And we shall always 
think kindly of Little Bear because he 
brought our baby home when he was 
lost. If we do go to visit you, you 
must let us make Little Bear a tobog¬ 
gan slide.” 

“Ask them to come as soon as we 
get home!” Little Bear whispered to 
his mother. But he whispered so loud 
the Otter children heard what he said 
and laughed. 

And that night Little Bear dreamed 
of taking home a baby Otter and of 
being invited to slide down that baby 
Otter’s toboggan slide all the afternoon. 


THE NEAREST WAY HOME 


One day Little Bear was playing 
alone in a sunny clearing in the old 
forest. He was wishing a wish with his 
eyes shut. “This is the wish I wish,” 
said he. “ I wish some one would come 
and play with me.” 

Then Little Bear opened his eyes, 
and his wish came true. 

Into the sunny clearing came four 
little Deer children. At first they 
stepped timidly into Little Bear’s 
playground. But when they saw he 
was alone, and heard him sing, they 
knew they had nothing to fear. They 
knew he wished them to come. 

“What is your name?” Little Bear 
asked the tallest Deer child. 

“My name is Lightfoot,” was the 
answer, “because I can run fast.” 


56 


THE NEAREST WAY HOME 


57 


“My name is Fleetfoot,” said the 
next Deer in size, “because I can run 
fast, too.” 

“ Swimmy is my name,” piped up the 
third Deer child, “because I like to swim.” 

Now the fourth little Deer, the 
baby one, had stayed behind. His three 
cousins looked back to see what he was 
doing. They saw him on his knees 
smelling white violets that grew in a 
mossy bed. 

“What is the name of the baby 
one? ” asked Little Bear. 

“His name is Wonder,” Lightfoot 
replied, “because he always wonders 
about everything, and then we laugh.” 

At that very moment Baby Wonder 
ran across the clearing as lightly as a 
soap bubble. Just in front of Little 
Bear he stopped suddenly and smiled. 

“I’d like to hug you, Baby Deer,” 
said Little Bear, “for your eyes are so 
soft and brown, and I love you!” 


58 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

“I wonder what your name is?” 
were the first words that Baby Deer 
said to Little Bear. Then Lightfoot, 
Fleetfoot, Swimmy, and Little Bear 
all laughed. 

“My name is Little Bear,” was the 
answer. ‘‘This is my playground.” 

“I wonder if you know about us?” 
was Baby Deer’s next question. And 
then he began to dance lightly, hoppity- 
skip, hoppity-skip, round a fairy ring. 

‘‘No, I do not, but I hope you 
will all play with me,” Little Bear 
cried. And he began dancing, hoppity- 
skip, hoppity-skip, round another fairy 
ring. 

‘‘We are campers,” said Lightfoot, 
‘‘and for a few days we’re camping a 
little way from your house.” And he, 
too, found a fairy ring and danced, 
hoppity-skip, hoppity-skip, around it. 

There were merry doings after that 
all the afternoon. When Little Bear 


THE NEAREST WAY HOME 


59 


said, “Let us play ‘Ring around a 
Rosy,’” that was the game. Then 
Fleetfoot wanted to play “London 
Bridge,” and then “London Bridge” 
was the game. So all the afternoon 
they played one game after another, 
until Lightfoot said he would like to 
run races. 

Now Little Bear did not want to 
run races with the Deer children. He 
knew he could not run fast enough to 
keep up even with Baby Wonder. But 
at once he picked up a stick and drew 
a line in the soft earth. 

“All stand in a row!” rang out his 
happy voice. “ All stand in a row until 
I say ‘Go.’ One, two, three, go!” 

Off they went. Little Bear did his 
best to run fast, but soon Lightfoot, 
Fleetfoot, Swimmy, and Wonder left 
him far behind. At last Little Bear was 
quite out of breath. Then the Deer 
children hurried back to the goal and 


CO LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

\ 

waited for him to rest. Then off they 
all ran, calling joyfully, “Can’t catch 
me! Can’t catch me!” 

Little Bear could not catch one of 
the Deer children. But he tried hard 
to catch them, and ran on and on, 
not knowing where they were going. 
Several times they crossed the river 
on stepping-stones and on bridges of 
fallen trees. 

At last they came to a place where 
the river was deep and wide. Little 
Bear would go no farther. The sun 
was fast sinking behind the distant 
hills, and he knew he was lost. When 
Little Bear would not follow, the Deer 
children came back, because Baby 
Wonder wished to know why Little 
Bear stopped playing. 

“We are lost, and we must find 
ourselves, ” said Little Bear. 

“Let us try the river,” said Swimmy. 
“Can you swim, Little Bear?” 


THE NEAREST WAY HOME 


Cl 


“ I can swim in a good swimming 
place,” answered Little Bear. “But 
I’m afraid to — to try it here.” 

Then to Little Bear’s great dismay, 
the Deer children began to whimper 
and cry, “We’re lost! We’re lost! 
We cannot find ourselves! We’re lost 
and cannot find ourselves!” 

“Don’t cry! Stop this minute!” 
cried Little Bear. “My father says 
when you are in trouble you must be 
brave so you can think. So please 
stop crying, so I can think!” 

The Deer children at once stopped 
crying so Little Bear could think. 

“ Now, I wonder what you’ve thought 
of? ” little Wonder asked at last, and 
all the others laughed. 

“I’ve thought that I’ll climb this 
tall tree and look around to see if I can 
find a short way home,” answered Little 
Bear. Then up he went. He knew 
that Deer children cannot climb trees. 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

When 
Little Bear 
reached the 
top of the 
tree, he put up his paw 
to shade his eyes and 
looked across the river. 
Just across the river; a 
little to the east, he saw 
his house in plain sight. 
And just beyond that he 
saw the Deer’s camping 
ground with the fire 
burning brightly. 

Little Bear was 
afraid to try to swim 
across that wide, deep 
place in the river. He 
did not like to go all by 
himself the long way 
home through the woods 
to the nearest bridge. 
If he told all the truth, 




THE NEAREST WAY HOME 


63 


he knew the Deer children would swim 
straight across the river and expect 
him to follow. If he kept still, he 
could lead them home safely and have 
company himself. 

Just then Baby Wonder said, “I 
wonder if you know what a good Little 
Bear you are! ” 

“Oh, dear me!” murmured Little 
Bear. Then he told the Deer children 
their camp was just across the river. 
Before he could even tell them which 
way to go on the other side, they 
slipped into the river and swam across 
to the farther shore. 

“Come along, Little Bear, corne 
along!” They called so loud they 
didn’t hear him shouting to them 
which way to go. They must not go 
toward the sunset, for that was the 
trail to Farmlands. 

Then Little Bear made a horn of his 
hands and shouted after the children 


64 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


to come back. But he leaned too far 
over and fell with a great splash into 
the deep pool. The next thing he knew 
he was swimming toward the bank. 
He had not known he could swim that 
easily. 

“Now I suppose I must run after 
the Deer children and try to call them 
back,’’ he thought. Just then he saw 
them standing still, waiting for him. 

“Come along! Come along!” they 
shouted. “We’ll give you a good 
start! ” 

Then how Little Bear laughed! 
He pointed the way home, and the 
race began with Little Bear far, far 
ahead. On came the four Deer children, 
jumping over rocks and brambles and 
stumps. But Little Bear reached his 
own gate first and won the race. 

That night Baby Wonder came to 
the Three Bears’ home with a basket 
in his hands. 


THE NEAREST WAY HOME 65 


“My mother,” said he, “sent the 
sweetest blackberries she could find in 



the woods for Little Bear’s supper. 
I wonder why?” 

Mother Bear also wondered why. 
But when she gave Baby Wonder 
four honey cakes to take home she 
kissed him. And she kissed Little 
Bear, too. 


5 


THE WILDCAT BABIES 


One time the Wildcat babies ran 
away. It was late in the afternoon 
when Little Bear found them crying 
beside the brook. They were not far 
from home, but they were on the 
wrong side of the brook. 

“Swim across!” cried the Beavers. 
But the baby Wildcats were afraid of 
the water and would not try to swim. 

“Wade in, wade in!” said Father 
Deer. The baby Wildcats would not 
wade into the water. They shook 
their front paws. They did not like 
to get wet. 

“Slide right in and paddle over!” 
called out Mrs. Otter. But the baby 
Wildcats would not slide in and paddle 
over. They were afraid of the water. 
They did not like to get wet. 


66 


THE WILDCAT BABIES 


67 


“Float over, float over!” said the 
Ducks. But the baby Wildcats would 
not even try to float. 

“Jump on a log and spread your 
tails wide and sail across!” said the 
Red Squirrel. But the Wildcat babies 
did not dare jump on a log. They 
were afraid the log would roll over 
and dump them into the water. 

By the time Little Bear came along, 
the baby Wildcats were spilling big 
tears into the brook and crying at the 
top of their voices. Little Bear could 
not help laughing at them. But he 
felt sorry for his little neighbors, and 
made up his mind to help them. He 
thought and thought and thought and 
thought. At last he asked the baby 
Wildcats how they came to be so near 
home and yet on the wrong side of 
the brook. 

“Mother went away and didn’t 
come back,” Yowler said, “and I said 




68 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

we ought to stay home and be good, 
but—” 

“He did not!” cried Billy Wildcat. 
“He said, ‘Ma will never know if we 
go walking just a little way,’ didn’t 
he, Mewey?” 

“Yes, he did,” answered Mewey. 
“And we walked and we walked 
until we were lost—and Yowler was 
the worst one of us. Why, why, 
Yowler! Yes, you were!” 

“Now don’t quarrel,” said Little 
Bear. “ I want to know how you 
came to be on the wrong side of 
the brook.” 

“Yowler, he made us cross the 
away-off-seven-mile bridge,” was 
Owley’s answer. 

“ If you don’t stop quarreling, I 
shall leave you,” scolded Little Bear. 
“And now I know what to do. If 
you will be good, we will build a 
bridge. I’ll carry big stones and drop 


THE WILDCAT BABIES 69 

them into the brook, and every one 
of you shall bring little stones.” 

So at once Little Bear began build¬ 
ing a bridge of stones. It was hard 
work, but he tugged at rocks and 
rolled stones and lifted stones. He 
splashed and worked and worked and 
splashed until at last there was a fair 
bridge of stones across the singing 
brook. The baby Wildcats did not 
help much because they were too busy 
quarreling and crying. 

“Now step over,” said Little Bear, 
“and be careful you do not slip.” 

One by one the little “’fraid cats,” 
stepping high, and careful not to slip, 
crossed the brook safely. At last 
Little Bear left them at their own 
door, just as Mother Wildcat came 
home. 

“You naughty children!” she cried. 
“ I have hunted over the woods far 
and near for you! There is a circus 










Now step over,” said Little Bear, “and do not slip 


































































THE WILDCAT BABIES 71 

man wandering round here, and it is 
a wonder he didn’t find you! Scoot 
into the house this minute!” 

“Little Bear is good!” piped up 
the shrill voice of little sister Mewey. 
“ He made a stone bridge for us and 
brought us home!” Little Bear loved 
her for owning up like that. 

“Well,” said Mrs. Wildcat, “if he 
knows what is good for him, he’ll be 
glad to have me take him home. If 
I don’t the circus man may get him.” 

Little Bear did know what was 
good for him, so he gladly put his 
little wet paw into Mrs. Wildcat’s paw 
and trotted off by her side. Mrs. 
Maria Wildcat was cross but she 
meant well, and he knew it. Some 
folks are always cross when they are 
worried. Anyway, she took Little 
Bear home. Great was Little Bear’s 
surprise when, on reaching his own 
gate, Mrs. Wildcat stopped and said, 


72 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

“Mer—rrow! Mer—rrow!” in her most 
impolite fashion. 

Father Bear and Mother Bear came 
running down the path from the house 
to see what was the matter. At that 
very moment up jumped the circus 
man from beside the gate, where he 
had been hiding, and ran away. He 
ran as fast as he could go, flying 
down the road so fast he looked like 
a straight line. 

For the first time in his life Little 
Bear kissed Mrs. Maria Wildcat good 
night without being told. And all 
that evening until bedtime he and 
Father Bear played a merry game of 
Mrs. Maria Wildcat scaring a circus 
man — “Mer—rrow! Mer—rrow! 
Mer — rrow!” 


THE WOODCHUCK BABIES 

Little Bear loved the old Ground 
Hog, whose other name is Woodchuck. 
The reason he loved him was that 
every year, on the second day of 
February, Mr. Ground Hog wakes 
from his long winter’s sleep, comes out 
of his hole, and goes out for a walk. 
If he sees his shadow, back to bed he 
goes, to sleep six weeks more. If he 
doesn’t see his shadow, he travels 
joyfully about, telling the world spring 
has come. 

Little Bear liked to get up early 
in the year, while there was still snow 
on the ground. That’s another reason 
why he loved the old Ground Hog. 
In the fall old Ground Hog used to 
wink at Little Bear and promise, 
“Yes, yes, Little Bear, I’ll call your 

73 


74 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


father early, if I do not have to go back 
to bed myself for another long nap.” 

Little Bear loved the Woodchuck 
babies. Sometimes the babies played 
in the woods with him all day long. 
But he always wondered why they 
laughed when he would say, “Little 
Woodchucks, my mother is calling 
me. It is time now to run home to 
your mother.” 

At last the gayly dressed Blue Jay 
told Little Bear that Woodchuck 
babies have to take care of themselves 
as soon as they are a few weeks old. 
Little Bear was wondering about this 
and feeling sorry, when Father Ground 
Hog came along and told him it had 
always been that way in the Wood¬ 
chuck family. He said no harm comes 
to little Woodchucks if they mind 
their parents and stay in the woods. 
If they visit farmers’ gardens and eat 
the farmers’ beans and peas they’re 


THE WOODCHUCK BABIES 


75 


often shot or caught in traps or killed 
by dogs. 

“ So long, Little Bear, as our children 
stay in the woods or in the meadows, 
and eat grass and clover,” he said, 
“they are safe and happy. You never 
saw a little Woodchuck crying!” 

Little Bear laughed and said no, 
he never had seen a baby Woodchuck 
crying. 

“I’ll take care of the Woodchuck 
babies,” he promised their father, “if 
you will tell me what traps are like, 
so I can look for them.” 

“Very well,” said Father Wood¬ 
chuck. “ I will tell you how a steel 
trap works. It lies on the ground like 
an open book, only it is hidden by 
grass and leaves. In the middle of 
the trap is a little pan, and on that 
pan lies something good to eat. When 
the little Woodchuck sees the good 
thing to eat he tries to get it, and in 


76 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

trying to get it steps on the pan or 
presses it down with his nose. Snap! 
the spring shuts quickly, and the little 
fellow is caught fast in the trap. He 
can’t get away by pulling the trap 
with him, for it is fastened by a chain 
to a log or an old stump.” 

The old Woodchuck then walked 
away slowly, chuckling to himself. 
He was really laughing at Little Bear, 
for he didn’t believe there was a steel 
trap in all the old woods. 

Little Bear had told his father and 
mother about his talk with their old 
friend. Then he asked, “What shall 
I do if I find a trap? ” 

Father Bear didn’t think for a 
moment that Little Bear would ever 
find a trap in the forest. So he laughed 
and said, “Take a long thick stick, 
Little Bear, and let the stick step on the 
pan and get caught. Then for a while 
the trap cannot catch anything else.” 


THE WOODCHUCK BABIES 


77 


“I’ll do it,” promised Little Bear. 
“I’ll look and look and look for 
traps. Then the baby Woodchucks 
will always be safe.” 

“If you ever should find a trap,” 
said Mother Bear, “be careful to 
stand a long way off from it when 
you poke the stick on the pan. Do 
it this way.” And Mother Bear did 
her best with a broom to show Little 
Bear how to spring a trap. 

She looked so funny, leaning over, 
thumping the floor with a broom, that 
Little Bear laughed and forgot to feel 
sorry for the young Woodchucks. 
Father Bear laughed, too, and when 
he laughed of course Mother Bear 
laughed. Then right away the three 
had a jolly dance. 

The next time Little Bear took the 
baby Woodchucks to play in his play¬ 
ground he looked and looked and 
looked for a trap. Sure enough, he 



Little Bear finds a trap lying in the grass 

















THE WOODCHUCK BABIES 


79 


found one. It was lying in the grass, 
a tempting bit of honeycomb, just 
dripping with honey. For a moment 
he thought of nothing except the 
honey, and was about to tell the baby 
Woodchucks to help themselves. Then 
he thought, “What if there should be 
a trap under it to catch them!” So 
he cried out, “Wait a moment!” and 
held back the baby Woodchucks. 

Sure enough, when he poked away 
the leaves and grass, there was the 
trap, and there was the chain fastened 
to a stump! It was such a big trap 
Little Bear did not dare spring it with 
a stick. So home he ran for his father 
and mother to come and show him how 
to do it. 

When Father Bear saw the trap he 
looked carefully into the bushes, and 
then, before Little Bear had time to 
wink, away Father Bear went, rushing 
through the bushes! The next thing 


80 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

Little Bear knew he saw four big boys 
running like deer through the woods! 

Father Bear came running back, 
out of breath and laughing. Then 
he put the end of his cane on the 
spring and—clang! went the big trap. 

“Little Bear,’’ said Father Bear 
quietly, “it is a good thing for you 
and for all of us that you took such 
good care of the little Woodchucks. 
That is a bear trap, and those boys 
were trying to catch you. But I 
frightened them badly, and they will 
never, never come to your playground 
again.’’ 

Sure enough, the boys never did. 
As for the baby Woodchucks, they 
thanked Little Bear for showing them 
how to look out for traps, and for a 
long time they all lived happily 
together. 


LEADING THE PROCESSION 


Little Bear was not always good. 
Once he was very, very selfish in his 
heart. It was the time the Oak Tree 
Squirrel families at North Bend lost 
their winter store of nuts. During a 
terrible storm in the forest, all the 
trees at North Bend were blown to 
the ground and the old oak tree was 
swept away down the river, nuts 
and all. 

There were no lives lost. But what 
were the squirrels to eat that winter 
now all their nuts were gone? The 
old oak tree had a big hollow trunk. 
In the bottom was a storeroom for 
nuts. When the old oak was swept 
away not a nut was saved. Bushels 
and bushels and bushels of nuts went 
with it. The work of many busy 


6 


81 


82 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

squirrels during a long autumn was 
lost. 

Father Bear and Mother Bear were 
sorry to hear of the trouble that had 
come to the merry-hearted squirrels. 
So were all the friends and neighbors. 
At last Nimby Chipmunk—Nimby is 
short for Nimble—made a speech. He 
asked if all the nut gatherers would 
not give a share of their own nuts to 
the squirrels, to help them through the 
long winter. Squirrels up the river and 
squirrels down the river, squirrels who 
lived in holes in the ground, chipmunks 
from far and near, even the blue jays, 
gladly promised to share their acorns. 

“ Now,” said Nimby Chipmunk, “ let 
us ask the forest band to play. Then 
we will march to North Bend with 
our gifts.” 

The leader of the forest band at 
once promised that the band should 
furnish music for the procession. 


LEADING THE PROCESSION 


83 


In a short time after that news of the 
plan to help the Oak Tree Squirrels 
was the talk of the forest. 

Then said Father Bear, “Let us all 
have a share in this good work. Let 
all the friends and neighbors of the 
forest gather nuts for the North Bend 
Squirrels. I shall be glad to carry 
them a big basket full.” 

“ I shall be glad to carry my middle- 
sized basket full.” said Mother Bear. 

“I shall be glad to carry my wee, 
wee basket full,” piped up Little Bear. 

Then he was selfish in his heart. 
He wished he might lead the procession. 
Little Bear wanted to be first when 
all the friends and neighbors marched 
through the greenwood with banners 
waving, with bugles blowing, and with 
silver trumpets sounding. Yes, he 
would be first! 

The great day came at last. The 
friends and neighbors met in the forest 


84 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

to form in procession for the march 
to North Bend. Father Bear was there 
with a big, big basket of big nuts. 
Mother Bear was there with a middle- 
sized basket of middle-sized nuts. 
Little Bear was there with a wee, wee 
basket of nuts, and a selfish feeling 
in his heart. He would be first! 

There was much talking and laugh¬ 
ing and bowing and smiling. All the 
musicians who belonged to the band 
were tuning their instruments, making 
wonderful music. It sounded like 
raindrops falling on forest leaves, like 
soft winds blowing at sunset, like the 
whispering of tree tops after a storm. 
Sweet sounds were calling, calling, up 
the scale and down the scale. 

Little Bear felt more selfish every 
minute as he danced about and 
listened. He would be first! 

Truth to tell, Little Bear did not 
know how to be first. He knew better 


LEADING THE PROCESSION 85 

than to push and crowd and quarrel, 
like the Wildcat babies, to get what 
he wanted. He knew better than to 
say to his father or his mother, “ I 
want to be first!” 

Nimby Chipmunk and his family 
were in charge that day. So Little 
Bear didn’t stay beside his father and 
mother, but followed Nimby Chip¬ 
munk now here, now there, until what 
he hoped might happen did happen. 

When Nimby Chipmunk said at 
last, “Now, who shall lead the proces¬ 
sion?” there before him stood Little 
Bear, carrying a wee, wee basket of nuts 
and looking ever so sweet and happy. 

“Little Bear shall lead the proces¬ 
sion,” said Nimby Chipmunk. “Little 
Bear shall be first.” Then to Little 
Bear he said, “You will know where 
to turn, because the way is lined with 
crowds of people waiting to see the 
procession go by.” 



Little Bear shall lead the procession," said Nimby Chipmunk 
















LEADING THE PROCESSION 87 

So Little Bear was first. Yet he was 
a wee bit disappointed. He had thought 
the band would lead the way, the band 
that was even then beginning to play. 

Three hundred grasshoppers and 
three hundred crickets were all playing: 

Fiddle-dee-dee! Fiddle-dee-dee! 
Fiddle-dee-dee-dee, dee-dee-dee! 

as they stood in their green carriage. 
Frogs were playing their banjos: 

Kerplunk-plunk-plunk! Kerplunk-plunk-plunk! 
Plunkety, plunkety, plunk, plunk, plunk! 

The partridge drummers were there, 
beating their drums: 

Whir-whir-whir! 

Whir-whir-whir! 

Boom, boom, boom-boom-boom! 

The beavers kept time with their 
tails: 

Kersplash, bump-bump! 

Kersplash, bump-bump! 

Bump, bump, bump-bump-bump! 


88 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

The katydids were there, playing: 

Katydid-did-did! Katydid-did-did! 

She did, she didn’t, she did! 

But Little Bear was first, and he 
had to march ahead of the band and 
the procession. All he could hear after 
a few minutes was the soft footfalls of 
those marching behind him: 

Pitpat! Pitpat-pat! 

Pitpat! Pitpat-pat! 

He felt sober and grown up. He 
dared not look either to the right or to 
the left. He dared not take little skip¬ 
ping steps. But it was fine to be first! 
He held his head high, marching soberly 
to the tune of the falling feet behind him: 

Pitpat! Pitpat-pat! 

Pitpat! Pitpat-pat! 

Soon he was lonely. Then he was 
very, very lonely. At last Little Bear 
stepped back, and Father Rabbit took 


LEADING THE PROCESSION 


89 


his place, hopping, hopping, hippity¬ 
hopping! Then Little Bear stepped 
back again, and changed places with 
Uncle John Reynard. Then he kept 
dropping back and back, until he was 
behind the band, prancing and dancing 
and having a perfectly beautiful time. 

Soon Little Bear found he couldn’t 
see all he wished to see and still walk 
fast enough to keep up with the band. 

“Step along, Little Bear, step 
along,” called the people, watching 
from the bushes. 

But Little Bear did not step along 
fast enough to keep up with the band. 
There was so much fun going on to 
the right and to the left, and so much 
to see, and so many little skipping 
steps to take, that he dropped back 
and back. At last he was at the end 
of the procession. There he found 
Father Bear marching with his big, 
big basket of big nuts, and Mother 


90 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


Bear marching with her middle-sized 
basket of middle-sized nuts. 

“It is no fun to be first,” Little Bear 
said, as he marched behind Mother 
Bear. He swung his wee basket of nuts, 
and danced along as he could not do 
at the head of the procession. 

All that long, happy afternoon at 
North Bend, the grateful Squirrels 
looked for Little Bear to shake hands 
with him and to tease him. They 
wanted to laugh at him because he 
fell back and back until he was last in 
the procession. But Little Bear said to 
all, “It’s no fun to be first!” 



LITTLE BEAR RUNS AWAY 


The Three Bears had never visited 
Blueberry Plains in blueberry season. 
Little Bear couldn’t understand why. 

He had teased and teased to go 
while the berries were ripe. The Plains 
were not very far from home. The 
Three Bears had often gone away on 
much longer journeys just for a picnic. 

“ I could start in the morning and 
get there before sunset walking just 
like this!” bragged Little Bear, march¬ 
ing slowly down to the gate and back, 
and looking as if nothing ever could 
make him hurry. 

Father Bear and Mother Bear 
laughed. But, even so, Father Bear 
said severely, “This family is never 
going to Blueberry Plains on a pleasure 
trip during blueberry season. Now I 

91 


92 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

do not wish to hear another word 
about it!” 

“Try to get Blueberry Plains out 
of your mind,” said Mother Bear. 
“You see, pickers are there when the 
berries are ripe, and it is no place for 
a little bear. Go roll downhill in a 
barrel, and forget all about it.” 

Usually Little Bear liked the fun of 
rolling downhill in a barrel, but today 
he felt all out of sorts and cross. 
So he sat on a big stone with his chin 
in his paws. He sat still and did 
nothing but think how he longed to 
visit Blueberry Plains, where the berries 
grew so thick the land looked all sky- 
blue. He had heard robins tell great 
tales of their doings at Blueberry Plains 
when berries were ripe. 

At last Little Bear made up his 
mind and whispered softly to himself, 
“ I shall run away some day and visit 
Blueberry Plains.” 


LITTLE BEAR RUNS AWAY 93 

Next he said a bit louder, “ I shall 
run away some day and visit Blue¬ 
berry Plains.” 

Little Bear thought those words 



Auntie Cinnamon's twins came to play with Little Bear 


sounded very brave, so he walked to 
the grapevine tangle and shouted, “ I 
shall run away some day and visit 
Blueberry Plains.” 

Early the next morning Auntie 
Cinnamon’s twins came to play with 
him. Just for fun, when the twins 


94 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

were starting toward home, Little Bear 
said to them, “ I am going to run 
away some day and visit Blueberry 
Plains.” 

“You wouldn’t dare!” exclaimed 
the twins together. 

“I would too,” contradicted Little 
Bear. 

“Our folks never go there when 
berries are ripe,” said one of the twins. 
“Theil pickers are thicker there than 
berries.” 

But Little Bear laughed and said, 
“Who’s afraid of pickers!” 

Next day Little Bear sneaked out 
of bed in the early, early morning and 
ran away. He met Yowler Wildcat on 
his way to the spring for a drink of 
water. 

“Yowler,” said Little Bear, “I wish 
just about noon you would go tell 
my folks I’ve run away to Blueberry 
Plains. Maybe I’ll never come home. 


LITTLE BEAR RUNS AWAY 95 

I don’t want my folks to cry and feel 
badly. So you tell them, if you please, 
where I am.” 

“But, Little Bear,” Yowler put in, 
‘‘the plains are full of pickers! The 
pickers will get you!” 

‘‘Who’s afraid of pickers!” Little 
Bear shouted back over his shoulder 
as he ran on. 

Yowler waited until noon, then did 
as he was told. He wasn’t a bit 
surprised when Mother Bear began to 
weep. He started home and had gone 
only as far as the grapevine tangle 
when he saw Father Bear traveling by 
like the wind in November. Yowler 
noticed he carried a stick with some¬ 
thing dangling from the end of it. 

Now, just think how Little Bear 
felt that afternoon when he looked back 
and saw Father Bear racing along the 
highway like the wind in November! 
Little Bear suddenly felt too weak to 


9G LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

stand, so he sat down on a log and 
began taking “pickers”—as he called 
them-—out of his little suit. Not 
knowing exactly what to do when his 
father came up, he spoke first. 

“The pickers are getting thick 
already,” he said, without looking up. 
Then he kept on picking sweet brier 
thorns and wild-rose prickers from his 
coat. “ You see, Father Bear, I’m 
not a speck afraid of pickers, but I 
s’pose I’ve got to go straight back 
home with you.” 

“Oh, no,” answered Father Bear 
cheerfully. “ If you want to run away, 
why, run along. I came to bring your 
bundle and stick. All runaways carry 
a bundle at the end of a stick.” 

Little Bear was surprised and greatly 
disappointed. He was homesick already 
and tired enough to cry. There were 
sharp prickers in his feet. He did wish 
his father would make him go home. 


LITTLE BEAR RUNS AWAY 97 


“Well, we’d better be jogging on,’’ 
Father Bear said after he had whistled 
a tune cheerfully and rested a bit. 



“Well, wed better be jogging on,” said Father Bear 


So on they jogged. Father Bear took 
such long steps Little Bear had to run 
to keep up. And how tired he was! 

Afterward Little Bear told his mother 
that he and Father Bear galloped and 
galloped for miles and miles along 


98 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

the highway. At last at sunset they 
reached the hilltop overlooking Blue¬ 
berry Plains. There Father Bear turned 
back, saying he had to see some Grizzly 
relatives on business. He said he hoped 
Little Bear would always remember 
the day he ran away. He begged him 
not to forget the old folks. He must 
be surg to come back to see them 
some time. That was all. ' 

Little Bear couldn’t speak. His 
eyes were full of tears and he could 
scarcely wink them back when his 
father said, “Good-by,” and started 
away, humming a cheerful little tune. 

When he was out of sight Little 
Bear sat down and cried because he 
was homesick and lonely. He hadn’t 
expected to be alone. He had thought 
many of his friends would be there to 
keep him company. His feet were sore 
from prickers, his head ached, and he 
was hungry. 


LITTLE BEAR RUNS AWAY 


99 


As Little Bear looked about un¬ 
happily he saw blueberry bushes on 
the hilltop stretching out as far as he 



Little Bear sat down and cried because he was lonely 


could see. The ground looked all 
sky-blue with the berries. They were 
almost as big as cherries. 

Little Bear began to eat blueberries. 
He ate and ate and ate, crawling along 
on the ground as he picked the berries 
by the pawful. He crawled on and on 
until he reached the top of the hill. 



100 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

There below him, beyond the hill, 
stretched the wonderful Blueberry 
Plains, but all around them stood the 
white tents of berry pickers. At last 
Little Bear understood what his mother 
and the Cinnamon twins and Yowler 



meant when they spoke of “pickers.” 
They had meant berry pickers. 

From camp to camp the pickers 
shouted to one another and laughed 
and sang. Little Bear heard dogs bark¬ 
ing and saw men carrying guns. He 
saw two little bears tied to stakes in 
front of one of the tents. Then he 


LITTLE BEAR RUNS AWAY 101 

knew why Blueberry Plains was no 
place for him when the berries were 
ripe. 

Badly frightened, back and back and 
back Little Bear crawled, until the 
pickers could not possibly see him from 
the Plains. Then he hunted for a 
hiding place and found a wee cave just 
the right size for a badly frightened, 
homesick, blueberry-sick little bear. 

When he cuddled down in the cave 
Little Bear didn’t mean to go to sleep. 
Indeed not, in such a dangerous place! 
He was only going to rest until he 
stopped trembling, and then start for 
home like a March wind chasing winter 
away. 

But when the Man in the Moon 
looked in a bit later he saw Little 
Bear sound asleep. Soon after that, 
along came Father Bear with the 
Grizzly relatives. They peeped into the 
tiny cave, and laughed. Father Bear 


102 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


had been watching from hiding places 
every minute to protect Little Bear 
from harm. 

“ He will sleep until broad daylight,” 
Father Bear whispered, “and then he’ll 
make tracks for home. He will come 
limping along safely enough soon after 
I get there, even if I don’t start until 
noon.” 

But that was one time Father 
Bear made a mistake. Before the moon 
went to bed Little Bear awoke. Feeling 
better, up he jumped and started for 
home, running as fast as he could run. 
Little Bear never forgot that night. 
He ran softly because he didn’t wish 
to waken strangers. When he reached 
home the sun was high in the sky. 

His mother was glad to see him. 
She forgave him for running away. 
Then she gave him a warm bath and 
some bread and milk, and did every¬ 
thing to make him feel better before 


LITTLE BEAR RUNS AWAY 


103 


she put him to bed. Little Bear slept 
long and soundly. 

At suppertime Father Bear came 
home, hungry and cheerful. “Do not 
look so sad, Mother Bear,” said he. 
“Cheer up, Little Bear will come jog¬ 
ging home safe and sound one of these 
days.” Then he told her all about 
Little Bear’s adventures. 

Mother Bear didn’t tell Father Bear 
all she knew. She was ever so quiet, 
and she tried hard not to look cheer¬ 
ful. But when Father Bear turned 
his back and acted fidgety as he 
looked out the window she winked 
one eye slyly and smiled a little. 
When darkness fell, Mother Bear said, 
“Let’s go to bed.” 

“No, oh, no,” said Father Bear. 
“Let’s sit up and keep a light in the 
window.” 

“ I don’t see any sense in sitting 
up and keeping a light in the window,” 


104 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


said Mother Bear. “But if we must 
sit up, please go upstairs and light 
the candle and bring it down.” 

So Father Bear tramped heavily 
upstairs and lighted the candle. Then 
he saw something humpy in Little 
Bear’s bed. Yes, it was Little Bear! 

Mother Bear had come upstairs 
softly after Father Bear, and she 
laughed at her joke on him. He 
laughed, too. They made so much 
noise they woke Little Bear. He half 
opened his eyes and said sleepily, 
“I’m sorry I ran away—glad I’m 
home—going to be a good Little Bear 
now for always and always!” 

After that Little Bear never liked 
to hear anything said about Blueberry 
Plains. 


A VISIT TO A SCHOOL 


It was midsummer, and wild roses 
were blooming along the river bank 
behind the Three Bears’ house in the 
forest, and wild birds were singing 
from every thicket. Just the time for 
a pleasure trip, thought Father Bear, 
so he built a raft and took his family 
floating downstream. The raft was 
made of logs firmly fastened together. 
It was big and strong, and had three 
rustic chairs on it—a big, big chair 
for big Father Bear, a middle-sized 
chair for middle-sized Mother Bear, 
and a wee, wee chair for wee Little 
Bear. There were also poles for them 
to keep the raft from bumping against 
the river bank. There was a long, 
rather heavy pole made for huge Father 
Bear to use, a middle-sized pole for 


105 




106 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


middle-sized Mother Bear, and a long, 
light pole for wee Little Bear. 


„ r * 



The Three Bears saw a little log house on a hillside 


It was afternoon, and they were far 
from home, when they came to a 
bend in the river. As the raft came 
swishing and tumbling round the bend 
the Three Bears saw a little log house 











A VISIT TO A SCHOOL 


107 


on a hillside and children play.ing out¬ 
side the door. 

At that very moment, bump ! went 
the raft into the bank, and there it 
stuck fast among the willows! 

“Oh, please do not push the raft 
into the stream for a few minutes!” 
whispered Little Bear. “Let us watch 
the children!” 

“Yes, let us watch the children,” 
added Mother Bear. 

So Father Bear, willing to please 
his family, seated himself in his huge 
chair, and Mother Bear seated her¬ 
self in her middle-sized chair. But 
Little Bear stood up on his tippytoes 
in his wee little chair, so he could see 
better. 

“Oh, I wish those children would 
let me play with them!” cried Little 
Bear, as the youngsters joined hands 
and danced round and round in a 
circle. 


108 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


Plainly, the log building was a 
schoolhouse, for a moment later out 
the schoolmistress stepped and began 
to ring a bell. 

The children at once formed in 
line, boys first, girls behind. Then 
they all marched into the schoolroom. 
As they marched they were saying, 
“Left foot, right foot, left foot, right 
foot,” and their feet made a merry 
stamping. 

After the children were all in the 
schoolhouse and the door was closed, 
a song came floating through the open 
windows. 

When the singing was over, the 
only sounds the bears heard were the 
songs of birds, and the lapping of 
water, and the humming of bees. 
Little Bear said to his father and 
mother, “I see a little path leading 
from the river to the schoolhouse, 
and I see bushes beside one of the 


A VISIT TO A SCHOOL 109 

windows. If I go softly, softly, and 
climb softly, softly into the bushes, 
may I go and peep into the schoolhouse 
and see the children?” 

‘‘Oh, I do not know about that!” 
began Mother Bear. 

But Father Bear said, “Oh, let him 
go! Only, Son Bear,” he added, “if 
one of the children should happen to see 
you, and should say ‘bear,’ you run 
straight down to the raft. We shall 
be ready to push into the stream and 
get away.” 

So Little Bear crept softly up the 
path on the hillside, climbed softly 
into the bushes, and peeped slyly into 
the schoolroom. All the children were 
in their seats with their heads bent 
over books and slates. 

Then the teacher said sternly, 
“Primer class! Come forward!” 

Two little girls and one little boy 
went to a spot in front of the teacher’s 


110 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

desk and stood with their toes on 
a crack in the floor. They had blue- 
covered books in their hands. The 
little girls edged away from the boy 
as far as they could while the mistress 
looked at them. Little Bear was so 
interested that he climbed closer to 
the window. 

“Open your books,” said the school¬ 
mistress. 

The three children opened their 
blue-covered books. 

“Joan, you may read the lesson 
first, if you please.” 

So Joan read, “I — see — a—cat.” 

“Good!” said the mistress. “Mary, 
you may read.” 

“I—see — a—cat,” read Mary. She 
knew every word of that lesson. 

“Now, Simon,” spoke the mistress 
to the boy, “let us hear you read.” 

Little Bear was sure that Simon 
did not know his lesson. He was sure 


A VISIT TO A SCHOOL 


111 


of it because Simon acted so foolish and 
looked so unhappy. He stood on one 
foot and then on the other, and twisted 
and squirmed until the girls giggled. 

“Come, Simon,” urged the mistress, 
“we are waiting.” 

Little Bear felt so sorry for Simon 
that he forgot all about himself. He 
leaned forward until his paws rested 
on the window sill. No one saw him, 
because bushes grew close round that 
window and he had moved quietly 
and made no sound. 

“Simon,” the mistress said sternly 
at last, “read the lesson!” 

“I—see,” began Simon, “I—see— 
a—” Then he looked up, but instead 
of saying “cat,” as the primer said, 
Simon, with eyes as large and round 
as saucers, dropped his book and cried, 
“Bear! I see a bear!” 

Sure enough, Simon did. So did 
all the children. So did the mistress, 


Simon dropped his book and cried , “Bear! I see a Bear /” 











































































































A VISIT TO A SCHOOL 


113 


because Little Bear was right up in 
the window, trying to tell Simon the 
word “cat”! 

Down the hill ran Little Bear as 
fast as ever he could go, and scram¬ 
bled on board the raft. Father Bear 
and Mother Bear used their poles and 
quickly pushed the raft into the mid¬ 
dle of the stream. Then away went 
all three of them, laughing. 

But Little Bear did not wish to 
visit school again that day—or that 
summer. 



8 


LITTLE BEAR’S WISH 


One morning, when the Three Bears 
were floating downstream on their raft, 
they saw a farmhouse in the distance. 

“Perhaps we shall never be so near 
a farmhouse again,’’ said Mother Bear 
to Father Bear. “ I think we should buy 
some eggs of the farmer’s wife.” 

“Do be sensible!” exclaimed Father 
Bear. “ We have no money, and farmers 
do not love bears.” 

“ That does not matter,” said Mother 
Bear gently. “Tonight, when we build 
our camp fire for the evening, we must 
have hens’ eggs to roast for supper. 
And how can we have hens’ eggs unless 
we buy them at the farmhouse?” 

Father Bear made no answer. He 
knew Mother Bear would have her way. 
So he wasted no time trying to argue 


114 


LITTLE BEAR'S WISH 


115 


about the matter but pushed the raft 
against the bank and tied it to the 
willows with a rope of wild grapevine. 

“Now, then!” was all Father Bear 
said after that, as he sat back in his 
huge chair and folded his arms to watch 
the fun. 

“‘Now, then,’ is what I say, too,” 
added Mother Bear, laughing. “ Honey 
Cub,” she said to Little Bear, who was 
wondering what would happen next, 
“jump off the raft to the bank. Then 
gather and bring me many long, slim 
leaves of the cat-tails growing over 
there. I will weave two baskets, one 
for the money, one for the eggs.” 

Little Bear hurried to obey. But 
when he returned with his arms full of 
cat-tail leaves, he said, “Mother Bear, 
I have made a wish. Please let us have 
the eggs for dinner, and let us have 
them scrambled. Father Bear and I 
like scrambled eggs better than roasted 


116 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

eggs.” And Little Bear winked at 
Father Bear and Father Bear winked 
back. 

“No,” said Mother Bear, “we shall 
not make camp at noon so near a farm¬ 
house, and the eggs shall be roasted. 
Now run along and get me some long 
grasses, Honey Cub. I want to weave 
them, with the slim cat-tail leaves, 
into the baskets.” 

Little Bear obeyed his mother, but he 
neither danced nor sang as he gathered 
the grasses. “Noon is the time for 
dinner,” he told a big green frog, “and 
I wish for scrambled eggs at noon.” 

“Ker-plunk!” said the frog. 

Quickly Mother Bear made two 
pretty green baskets. “One is for wild 
strawberries,” she explained. “We will 
fill it to the brim and leave it for the 
farmer’s wife, instead of money. She 
will find it in a nest when she goes to 
gather the eggs.” 


LITTLE BEAR’S WISH 117 

“I’ll gladly pick the berries,” said 
Little Bear, “and I’ll go with you to 
find a hen’s nest that has eggs in it to 
scramble.” 

“You will stay with your father 
while I go for the eggs,” answered his 
mother. 

So after Little Bear had filled one 
green basket with delicious wild straw¬ 
berries, he stayed with his father while 
Mother Bear went for the eggs. 

“ Noon is the time for dinner,” Little 
Bear said crossly. “And roasted eggs 
are not so good as scrambled ones.” 

“Son Bear,” said Father Bear sternly, 
“Mother Bear is always right!” 

Soon back came Mother Bear, walk¬ 
ing fast. When Little Bear saw the 
eggs in her green basket, he was so much 
pleased he forgot to be cross, but he did 
not forget his wish. While Father Bear 
untied the grapevine rope Little Bear 
helped Mother Bear cover the eggs with 


118 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

big green leaves to keep them cool. As 
he worked he danced and sang for joy. 

“ Now we are off for a morning’s good 
fishing!” cried Father Bear, as he pushed 
the raft into the middle of the stream. 
Then, giving a wee fish pole to Little Bear 
and a middle-sized fish pole to Mother 
Bear, he at once began fishing with his 
own huge pole and long line. 

The Three Bears fished all the morn¬ 
ing and caught no fish. At noon, with¬ 
out warning, there was a great splashing 
in the river, and Father Bear cried out, 
“I have a bite!” 

Well, he pulled, and pulled, and 
pulled, but could not land his fish. 
There was great excitement on the 
raft, then suddenly Father Bear almost 
caught the fish. Up came the line, up 
bobbed the fish—a big fish, almost the 
biggest fish Father Bear had ever caught. 
But back fell Father Bear, bumping into 
Mother Bear, who bumped into Little 



Little Bear sat right down in the basket of eggs! 





















































































































120 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

Bear. Then, because the three were 
standing one right behind the other, 
Little Bear sat down in the basket of 
eggs! At that the fish flopped back, 
splash! into the water—and the Three 
Bears were hungry! 

“Something has happened to the 
eggs!” exclaimed Little Bear. “I am 
afraid they are all squashed.” 

Sure enough! When Mother Bear 
took the leaves off the basket of eggs, 
what a sight those eggs were! Every 
shell was broken. Then said Father 
Bear, laughing: “ Roasted eggs are not so 
good as scrambled eggs, and noon is the 
time for dinner! Come, Mother Bear, 
let us go ashore and make camp. We 
are a long way from the farmhouse.” 

“Father Bear is always right,” said 
Mother Bear cheerfully. She emptied 
the broken eggs into the frying pan and 
began picking out pieces of shell and 
tossing them into the water. 


LITTLE BEAR’S WISH 


121 


That is how it came about that the 
Three Bears built a camp fire at noon 
and had scrambled eggs for dinner. 
They had a jolly time eating their 
dinner in the woods and talking 
about the big, big fish Father Bear had 
almost pulled out of the stream. 

But after dinner Little Bear laughed 
and sang: 

I had my wish! 

Because Daddy lost his fish! 
Ta-de-dum, 

Ta-de-dum, 

Ta-de-dum-dum-dum! 

until at last the Three Bears joined 
hands and danced round the camp fire, 
singing together: 

Little Bear had his wish 
When Father Bear lost his fish! 
Ta-de-dum, 

Ta-de-dum, 

Ta-de-dum-dum-dum! 


FATHER BEAR’S GUMDROPS 


One time all the neighbors in the 
old, old forest where the Three Bears 
lived went on a picnic. Th^y started 
early because Father Deer promised to 
take them to Spruce Valley, and that 
was a long way off. The air was cool 
and sweet with the perfume from bloom¬ 
ing flowers, and traveling was pleasant 
and easy. 

Little Bear skipped merrily along, 
joking with Sally Beaver, laughing at 
the Wildcat babies, and running races 
with Mother Fox’s children. He helped 
the Porcupine twins and the Otter 
children over fallen logs, and was kind 
to the baby Deer. He raced with Auntie 
Cinnamon’s youngsters, and tried to 
leap as high as Father Deer’s eldest 
son. Such jovful traveling made the 
122 


FATHER BEAR’S GUMDROPS 123 

way seem short. Before any one even 
thought of feeling tired, Father Deer 
said, “Here we are!’’ 

Then in the shade of the tall spruce 
trees the picnic fun began. Everyone 
was busy and happy when Little Bear 
saw Father Bear cross the brook and 
go up the hill. He carried an empty 
sack over his shoulder. 

“Where are you going, Father Bear? ” 
Little Bear called, hurrying after him. 
“And what are you going to do?” 

“ I am going after spruce gumdrops 
to fill my sack,” said Father Bear. 
“You had better stay and play with 
the children.” 

So Little Bear stayed and played 
with the children, but he kept wonder¬ 
ing about gumdrops. At last he stopped 
playing long enough to ask Mother 
Bear, “What are gumdrops? Why is 
Father Bear going for them, and where 
do they grow?” 


124 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

Mother Bear laughed. “Spruce 
gumdrops,” she answered, “are drops 
of spruce gum dried hard. Father Bear 
learned that Goldilocks and all her 
family, and the hunters who come from 
cities, almost always chew gum. So 
Father Bear decided to gather a sack¬ 
ful of spruce gumdrops today and trade 
them at the fair next week for butter 
and eggs.” 

“Oh, we must not let Father Bear 
go to the fair!” cried Little Bear. 

“ Indeed not! ” his mother answered. 
“ He isn’t going to the fair. He expects 
to send the gumdrops by Mother 
Hubbard’s dog. But gumdrops do not 
grow, Little Bear. They are the dried 
sap of the spruce tree. When the sap 
comes through the bark in drops, it 
hardens into gum, which men and 
women like to chew.” 

“I want to chew gum!” said Little 
Bear. 


FATHER BEAR’S GUM DROPS 125 

“We want to chew gum!” cried all 
the other children, who had been stand¬ 
ing round listening to what Mother 
Bear was saying. 

“ We all want to chew gum! ” added 
Mrs. Maria Wildcat. And when she 
played she was chewing gum, all the 
others laughed. 

“Maria has watched the farmer and 
his hired men chew gum,” explained 
Mr. Bob Wildcat. 

“ I tried it once,” said Mother Bear. 
“ The gum stuck my teeth together, and 
it was five minutes before I could open 
my mouth enough to talk. We’ll ask 
Father Bear to pass the gum, and then 
we shall have some fun.” 

Just then a stranger appeared. He 
was a tall, kindly faced brown bear. 
He carried a staff and fairly galloped 
through the valley. In his haste he 
knocked Grandmother Beaver flat on 
her back. It was plainly an accident, 



The stranger , a tall, kindly brown bear , carried a staff 


v 








FATHER BEAR’S GUM DROPS 127 

but the stranger did not stop to say, 
“I beg your pardon!” Grandmother 
Beaver was not at all hurt by the fall, 
but just the same she didn’t like it. 

When Little Bear said, “I wish 
Father Bear would come back,” every¬ 
one at the picnic seemed to feel the 
same way. That was why they were 
all looking up the hill and saw him 
the minute he came in sight. 

“Come here, and come quickly!” 
called Father Bear. “Bring the lunch 
baskets!” 

Up the hill scrambled all the pic¬ 
nickers, carrying the baskets. Father 
Bear counted, to be sure all were there. 

“Please all sit down and make your¬ 
selves comfortable,” said he, “while I 
pass the gumdrops.” 

When Father Bear had begun to 
pass the gumdrops as fast as he could, 
with Mother Bear’s help and Little 
Bear’s help, he said, “ I met a big 


128 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

brown bear a few minutes ago. He is 
a performing bear who has escaped 
from a circus. After you begin to 
chew gum I’ll tell you what he said. 

The picnickers put the hard lumps 
of spruce gum into their mouths 
moss, stickg, and all — and began to 
chew. When everyone was chewing — 
Mother Bear and Little Bear, as well 
as the other picnickers — Father Bear 
said, “ Is there any one here who would 
like to ask a question?” 

All of them wished very much to 
ask questions, but try as hard as they 
would they couldn’t speak. Gum was 
stuck fast in their short teeth and in 
their long teeth, in their upper teeth 
and in their lower teeth. 

When they found they couldn’t 
talk, the picnickers all began to 
prance round wildly and wave their 
arms. Of course they laughed and 
laughed. 



FATHER BEAR’S GUMDROPS 129 

“This is not a dancing time,’’ said 
Father Bear. “And I’m glad you 
can’t talk or screech or scream. If 
you’ll sit down again and stop making 
motions, I’ll tell you what the brown 
bear said.” 

After a minute of waiting, Father 
Bear began softly, “Dad Fox is wig¬ 
gling his ear, and Bob Wildcat is 
waving his tail. You must not make 
the least bit of a noise, boys. Passing 
strangers might hear and look up, for 
the brown bear told me all the circus 
animals had escaped. They are now 
following him straight through this 
valley on their way to the highroad. 
It is seventy-nine miles from here in 
a straight line.” 

Mother Bear was quite sure it was 
only seventy-seven miles from there to 
the highroad. She tried to tell Father 
Bear so, but the spruce gum held her 
mouth shut tight. 


9 



130 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

“I’ll do the talking this time,” 
Father Bear said to her gently. And, 
frightened though the picnickers were, 
a smile went round. 

Then all at once came the sound 
of many feet pounding the earth. It 
came nearer and nearer until elephants 
and tigers and lions, and one huge 
hippopotamus after another, and an¬ 
other, and another, and another, and 
one rhinoceros after another, and an¬ 
other, and another, and another, came 
crashing through the valley. Camels 
and wild horses, zebras, giraffes, all 
kinds of wild animals, crowded and 
pushed and hurried through the valley. 
But not even one glanced toward the 
spot where the frightened picnickers 
sat speechless on the hillside. 

When the last circus animal had 
passed out of sight, Father Deer was 
able to say, as well as any deer could 
say anything with gum still holding 




FATHER BEAR’S GUMDROPS 131 

his teeth together, “Father Bear, you 
saved our lives!” 

Father Bear did not know what to 



Each one said politely , “ No , I thank you ” 


reply to this. So, for fun, he again 
passed the gumdrops. 

By that time grown-ups, children, 
and all could talk. And as Father 
Bear came round with the gumdrops 
they said, very politely indeed, each 
for himself, “No, I thank you.” 


WHEN LITTLE BEAR BRAGGED 


One rainy day the Three Bears 
were sitting by the fire in their cosy 
house in the woods, telling stories. 
First Father Bear would tell a story. 
Then Mother Bear would tell a story. 
Then Father Bear would have a turn 
again. Between times, Little Bear 
asked questions. 

The three were happy and merry 
until Mother Bear told the story 
about the race between the hare and 
the tortoise. She told how the slow- 
going tortoise was the first to reach 
the goal because the hare took a nap 
and did not wake up until after the 
tortoise had passed him and had won 
the race. 

“You see,” Mother Bear explained, 
“ the hare was so sure he could win 


132 



WHEN LITTLE BEAR BRAGGED 133 

that he did not even try to reach the 
goal quickly. He was so swift-footed 
that he thought he could go to sleep 
if he chose and still come out ahead 
of the slow tortoise.” 

“Wasn’t he silly!” exclaimed Littie 
Bear. “If I were going to run a 
race with Grandpa Tortoise, I should 
go this way until I reached the goal.” 
Little Bear pranced up and down the 
room until he made even the porridge 
bowls rattle in the cupboard. “ I guess 
I should know enough to know that 
Grandpa Tortoise would keep stepping 
ahead and stepping ahead and get to 
the goal in time*! You would not 
catch me taking any naps if I started 
out to run a race with anyone! No, 
sir-ree!” 

Mother Bear laughed heartily at this, 
but Father Bear looked solemn. He 
did not like to hear Little Bear brag 
at all. 


134 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


“So you think, Son Bear,” said he, 
“if you should run a race with Grandpa 
Tortoise you would be wiser than our 
old friend, Peter Hare? Is that what 
you mean? ” 

“I know I should,” bragged Little 
Bear. “I’d say, ‘Good-by, Grandpa 
Tortoise!’ and off I’d start, and I 
should beat him before he had time to 
think. Then, afterward, if I were sleepy 
and wanted to, I should take a nap.” 

“Very well,” said Father Bear. “I 
shall see Grandpa Tortoise. If he is 
willing to run a race with a silly little 
fellow like you, you shall have your 
chance. And Peter Hare shall be the 
judge.” 

So when the rain was over, the 
friends of the Three Bears and of the 
Hare and the Tortoise met in the woods 
to see the fun. 

Before the race began, Little Bear 
noticed that the Hare and the Tortoise 


WHEN LITTLE BEAR BRAGGED 135 

were laughing about something. But 
he did not even wonder what it was. 
He had nothing to worry about. 



At last the word was given: “One, 
two, three, go!” 

Away went the Tortoise, slow and 
easy. Off started Little Bear, running 
so fast that he was out of breath 
long before he had passed the first 
oak tree. He was glad to stop for a 
second and have a drink of dew from 





136 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

an acorn cup that Friend Tree Toad 
offered him. 

“Thank you,” said Little Bear, as 
he gave back the cup. “But that was 
not enough. I shall have to step over 
to the spring.” 

“Remember, Little Bear, how the 
Hare lost the race!” Friend Tree Toad 
warned him. 

“Oh, I shall not go to sleep,” 
answered Little Bear, tossing his head. 
“Really, Grandpa Tortoise walks even 
slower than I thought he did.” 

Beside the spring a number of 
Little Bear’s old friends, dressed in 
green satin coats, were playing leap¬ 
frog. They asked Little Bear to play 
with them, and soon he was showing 
the frogs what long leaps he could 
make. Then, in a little while, many 
baby rabbits came and joined in the 
fun. The next Little Bear knew, he 
was chasing baby rabbits over the 


WHEN LITTLE BEAR BRAGGED 137 

rocks, and catching nuts the squirrels 
threw to him from the tree tops, and 
having a joyful playtime. 

An hour passed quickly. Then 
suddenly Little Bear remembered he 
had started out to run a race. 

Back he ran to the path, and away 
he flew toward the goal, while the 
baby rabbits laughed and danced and 
danced and laughed. Father Bear had 
sent them to play with Little Bear, 
but they did not know why he had 
sent them until that minute. 

Stepping along, stepping along, 
slowly but surely, Grandpa Tortoise 
had reached the goal, just as he had in 
the long-ago day when he ran the race 
with the Hare. As Little Bear came 
near the goal, he heard the neighbors 
shouting: “Hurrah for the champion! 
Hurrah for the champion! Hurrah 
for Grandpa Tortoise!’’ Even Father 
Bear was shouting. 


138 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

Little Bear remembered his man¬ 
ners. His father had told him what to 
do if he lost the race, so he straight¬ 
way walked up and shook hands with 
Grandpa Tortoise. And the Hare, 
although he must have been laughing 
in his sleeve, remembered his manners, 
too, and did not let any one see him 
laugh. 

After that the old friends and 
neighbors went home with the Three 
Bears to eat blackberries and honey 
and tell stories round the fire. Grandpa 
Tortoise went, too. He had traveled 
so slowly that he was not even tired. 

That afternoon when the stories 
were told Little Bear asked a few 
questions, as usual. But he did not 
brag! And when Peter Hare winked 
at him once or twice, he laughed. 


LITTLE BEAR’S TASK 


“What are you thinking about so 
hard, Son Bear?” asked Father Bear 
one sunshiny morning. Little Bear 
was sitting on the doorstep, his head 
resting on his paws, saying nothing. 

“I was thinking,” was the answer, 
“that I wish some one would help 
the Otters.” 

“I never knew the Otters needed 
any help,” said Father Bear, as he 
began making a new basket of reeds. 

“Well, I wish some one would make 
their crooked paths straight,” Little 
Bear went on soberly. “I’ve liked the 
Otters ever since we got to know them 
so well that time we were camping. 
You remember, don’t you, Father 
Bear, how I found that little lost 
baby Otter and took him to his people ? 


139 


140 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

And don’t you remember how we 
slid downhill with them all the after¬ 
noon? I’ve liked the Otters ever since 
then. It is too bad they have such 
short legs and such heavy bodies. 

“Father Otter told me about their 
cross-country journey every fall. The 
worst part is through our little jungle 
from Brookside, where they live, to 
Sunset Rock on our river bank. The 
path goes round little hilly places and 
stumps. It goes under logs and logs 
and logs, this way and that way, such 
a long, crooked path to the river. ’ 
Little Bear could not sit still as he 
talked about the troubles of his Otter 
friends. Father Bear could not keep 
from laughing as he watched Little 
Bear prancing around 

“Some one should make a straight 
path for them,’’ went on Little Bear. 
“Will you and Mother Bear do it? 
I do wish you would !' 5 


LITTLE BEAR’S TASK 


141 


Father Bear was so surprised that 
for a minute he did not know what to 
say to his son. 

“Well, if you are too busy, who 
will make them a straight path?’’ 
Little Bear went on, without waiting 
for his father to answer. 

“Why not talk it over with Sally 
Beaver?” Father Bear asked. “Her 
family are great workers. Besides, 
they live near the Otters.” 

Straight went Little Bear to his 
friend Sally Beaver. He told her how 
every fall the Otter family go travel¬ 
ing. He told her that the baby Otters, 
and the others, too, have short, short 
legs and heavy bodies. And he told her 
how hard it is for them to go trailing 
through the forest, round little hills and 
stumps, under logs, this way and that 
way, making such long, crooked paths. 

“Let them stay at home, then, 
like other folks,” was Sally Beaver’s 


142 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


answer. But her tone was cheerful 
and pleasant even if her words were 
not. “It is plain,’’ she said, “that the 
Otters go traveling just for fun. We 
Beavers are too busy to help such 
gadabouts. Besides, why don’t they 
stay in the water where they belong?” 

The next friend Little Bear asked 
to straighten the crooked path of the 
Otters was Father Deer. How he 
laughed at the notion ! Uncle Brown 
Bear was cross about it. And Robert 
Wildcat grinned unpleasantly and 
rubbed his hands, saying, “No, not I, 
Little Bear, not I!” Nor would any 
of the neighbors in the old forest 
promise to make straight the crooked 
path of the Otters. 

At last one morning Little Bear 
took his wee stone hatchet and started 
out for Sunset Rock. 

“Where are you going to play 
today?” asked Mother Bear. 


LITTLE BEAR’S TASK 143 

“I am not going to play in the 
woods today,” was Little Bear’s answer 
in a big, big, grown-up voice. “I shall 
go to Sunset Rock and make straight 
the crooked path the Otters use every 
fall!” 

“Oh,” cried Mother Bear, “ that is 
an elephant’s task, Son Bear ! A little 
fellow like you must not try what big 
bears could not do. Run and play, 
Little Bear. Do not—” 

“Let him try the elephant’s task,” 
spoke up Father Bear. “Let him try, 
and let him grow strong trying to do 
an elephant’s task in helping others. 
Run along, Son Bear, run along!” 

So Little Bear ran along through 
the forest until he came to Sunset 
Rock by the river. Then he began 
work — whackety — whackety — whack- 
ety—whack — whack — whack! cutting 
down slender trees and clearing away 
brush with his wee stone hatchet. 



WAwITT HARRIS 

Little Bear began cutting down slender trees with, his wee stone hatchet 





LITTLE BEAR'S TASK 145 

And whackety — whackety—whack! he 
worked for three days, until all the 
neighbors began to laugh. Even Sally 
Beaver could not see that he had done 
anything with all of his whackety- 
whacking. But all the next day she 
helped him clear away the little 
willows that grew close by the river, and 
Father Beaver cut down some trees for 
him. Much cheered, Little Bear kept 
at work, whackety—whackety—whack! 
day after day. Day after day, he kept 
trying to make a straight path for the 
Otters. It was hard work. Mother 
Bear felt ready to cry. 

“Because,” said she, “it is an 
elephant’s task! Such a little fellow 
with such a little hatchet cannot do 
an elephant’s task!” 

Then, one morning, a wonderful 
thing happened. Little Bear was 
working away as usual — whackety — 
whackety—whack — whack! thinking 


10 


146 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

pleasant thoughts about his friends, the 
Otters. But he was not cutting down 
many trees nor moving many logs as 
he worked, when an elephant heard 
him. 

He was a friendly elephant, who 
had run away from a circus. Little 
Bear had never seen an elephant 
before. But when the great beast 
came crashing through the jungle and 
asked, “What is going on here?” he 
was not afraid, because the elephant 
had such a kind face. 

Little Bear told him at once, and 
when the elephant heard the story, and 
saw the wee stone hatchet, he laughed 
and laughed and laughed. It seemed 
as if he would never stop laughing. 
But after a while he stopped long 
enough to pat Little Bear gently on 
the head and say, “Bravely done, 
Son! Now I shall help you finish 
your task.” 


LITTLE BEAR’S TASK 147 

And he did ! With his strong trunk 
he pulled up trees and bushes by the 
roots and moved logs. He trampled 



The elephant led the grand march with Liltle Bear on his hack 


down a straight elephant-wide path all 
the way from Sunset Rock to Brook- 
side. The neighbors, hearing a great 
noise, all came running to see what 
was going on. When the path was 
finished, elephant-wide, they formed a 
procession. Then they joined in a 


148 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


grand march all the way from Sunset 
Rock by the river to Brookside, and 
back again. 

The grand march was led by the 
elephant, with Little Bear on his back. 
Then came Father Bear and Mother 
Bear close behind. And after them, 
two by two, came all the neighbors, 
and the joyful Otter family with their 
babies, all singing happily with the 
Three Bears: 

Ta-de-dum, dum, dum ! 

Ta-de-dum, dum, dum ! 

Ta-de-dum, 

Ta-de-dum, 

Ta-de-dum, dum, dum ! 

After swinging Little Bear to the 
ground the friendly elephant went 
away, saying, “Thus may all good 
works end.” 

As for Little Bear, he was glad the 
neighbors decided to have a picnic 
dinner in the woods that day, and to 


LITTLE BEAR’S TASK 149 

play games and be jolly. He was so 
happy, for at last the Otters had a 
short, straight path instead of a long, 
crooked one through the jungle. 

Father Bear and Mother Bear were 
happy, too. They were happy because 
they had such a kind-hearted, stout¬ 
hearted son. 



MOTHER SKUNK’S KINDNESS 


Once upon a time Little Bear went 
for a long walk along the river path. 
He was alone, so he did not know he 
had gone so far away from home 
until Father Kingfisher saw him and 
called: 

“It is time for you to turn round 
and go back, Little Bear! It will soon 
be dark in the woods, and you might 
get lost. Remember, you have no 
wings to fly home quickly.” 

Little Bear looked for the sun. 
Sure enough, there it was sinking 
behind the trees and leaving a long, 
shining trail on the river. It was time 
to go home. 

“Thank you, Father Kingfisher,” 
answered Little Bear. “I was having 
such a good time I forgot I was far 

150 


MOTHER SKUNK’S KINDNESS 151 

from our little house. But I shall run 
back fast now. So good night!” 

Away he ran. But before he had 
passed more than three bends in the 
river he saw a man fishing. In the 
woods near by was a tent, with a 
bright camp fire burning, and beside 
the camp fire was a man cleaning 
a gun. 

Little Bear was so frightened he 
sat down and cried. Mother Skunk 
heard him crying, for she and her 
six children were out hunting beetles 
for their supper. 

“Why are you crying?” Mother 
Skunk asked. “What is the matter, 
Little Bear?” 

Little Bear told her about the two 
men, one on either side of his path. 
“And I am afraid to go by them!” 
he whimpered. 

“Come, come, child, dry your eyes,” 
said Mother Skunk. “You have been 


































































MOTHER SKUNK'S KINDNESS 153 

kind to my children, and now I shall 
take care of you. Stop crying, and 
follow me.” 

“But won’t the men catch you?” 
asked Little Bear. 

“Oh, no,” answered Mother Skunk. 
“They will not touch us. You follow 
me. Come, children.” 

On walked Mother Skunk, slowly 
and comfortably, with her six pretty 
children and Little Bear following one 
behind another, as she had told them 
to do. 

When the man who was fishing saw 
Mother Skunk walking by with her 
children and Little Bear, he sat just 
as still as a mouse. All he did was 
to wink. 

The man by the fire stopped clean¬ 
ing his gun when he saw Mother Skunk 
walking by with her children and Little 
Bear. He, too, sat just as still as 
a mouse. All he did was to wink. 


154 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

“Now, Little Bear,” said Mother 
Skunk, when they had gone a few steps 
more, “the children and I will stay 



Mother Bear tucked Little Bear into his wee bed 


here a while and catch beetles, but 
you must run along home. The men 
will not hurt you while we are in 
their path, never fear.” 

* ‘ Thank you, Mother Skunk! ” Little 
Bear called over his shoulder, as he 
pit-patted for home as fast as he could 
run. 








MOTHER SKUNK’S KINDNESS 155 

When he reached home he told 
all about what had happened to him 
coming home the river path. Then he 
walked up and down in front of the 
fireplace to show Father Bear and 
Mother Bear how Mother Skunk, with 
her six pretty children and Little Bear 
one behind the other, had walked past 
the two big men, as if she were not 
afraid of any one in the woods. 

How the Three Bears laughed! 

But when Mother Bear tucked Little 
Bear into his wee bed that night, she 
kissed him and said: 

“Let us always be thankful for 
good, kind friends!” 


LITTLE BEAR’S ERRAND 


Father Bear and Mother Bear were 
planning to go to Sherwood Forest, 
and Little Bear wished to go, too. It 
seemed to him that he could not give 
it up and stay at home. Little Bear 
did not mind staying at home alone, 
but it was autumn and he longed to 
tramp all day through the woods to 
Sherwood Forest, and then home again. 
But Father Bear said that, if he and 
Mother Bear wanted to get back home 
by twilight of the same day they 
started, they must go without Little 
Bear. 

“Why, Son Bear,” said Father Bear, 
the afternoon before the day they 
planned to start to Sherwood Forest, 
“you walk too slowly to go on such a 
long trip with Mother Bear and me.” 

156 


LITTLE BEAR’S ERRAND 


157 


The three were comfortably seated 
on a pile of logs at the top of their 
hill, and Father Bear tried to make 
Little Bear see why he should stay at 
home. “Son Bear, it’s like this: It 
would take a week, at least, to go to 
Sherwood Forest if you went along. 
Mother Bear and I know how to 
tramp straight ahead these cool days 
and get where we’re going quickly. 
But you, Son, would have to stop 
to look into every bird’s nest and 
wonder who lived in it in the summer. 
You would have to stop and speak 
to every toad and ask him where he 
is going to pass the winter.” 

It was early autumn and the world 
was lovely. Mother Bear did not like 
Father Bear to tease Little Bear that 
way, so she cut him short. “Do look 
at those white clouds, Father Bear,” 
she said. “See how wonderful the 
colors are from our hill!” 


158 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


“Yes, so they are,” agreed Father 
Bear. “And that reminds me that 
Sonny, here, would have to stop to 
hunt for nuts and gather thorn apples 
and red and yellow autumn leaves. 
And at every bush we passed he would 
surely stop to find the last black¬ 
berries. He would have to play a 
game with the chipmunks and be 
shown the squirrels’ winter stores. 
He would be obliged to talk with 
every one of Sally Beaver’s aunts and 
uncles we met! O Son Bear! Son 
Bear! We know your way of going 
through the woods! Home is the very 
best place for you tomorrow.” 

“I could go straight through the 
woods fast like this if I wanted to,” 
Little Bear piped up. And to show 
them how he could travel without 
looking to the right or to the left, he 
ran swiftly round and round in a circle 
until over he tumbled. 


LITTLE BEAR’S ERRAND 159 

“Yes, and then down you would 
go, and we should have to take turns 



“/ could go straight through the woods like this ” 


carrying you!’’ exclaimed Father Bear. 
Then how the Three Bears laughed! 

Just then, scrambling up the hill, 
came little Mewey Wildcat. She was 
not laughing, poor little thing! 


160 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


“ Why, what’s the matter, Mewey ? ” 
asked Mother Bear. “Do tell us 
quickly!” 

“My little brother Yowler is cut¬ 
ting a new tooth. He’s so sick catnip 
doesn’t do him a bit ol good,’’ Mewey 
answered. “My ma wants some one 
to go quickly for my pa. He has 
gone to Farmlands on chicken business. 
Ma says Friend Blue Jay is going to 
Farmlands at three this 
afternoon to plant acorns 
for a forest, and he’d 
take the message to Pa. 
Ma wants Pa to come 
right straight home. She 
wants to know if Father 
Bear will go over to Oak 
Valley, where Friend 
Blue Jay lives, and ask 
him to tell Pa to come 
home as fast as ever he 

Bob Wildcat out , i t r i i >, 

on chicken business C3.I1 tr3V61. II tl6 Q06Sn t 



LITTLE BEAR’S ERRAND 


161 


she’ll give it to him when 
he does come. She’d send 



me to Oak Valley, but f- 

T 1 - 1..1J \ 7 " _1- .- ^ 


I have to hold Yowler’s 
nose when Ma gives him 


the catnip tea so he has to 

swallow whether he wants to or not.” 

“Let me go and tell Friend Blue 
Jay,” said Little Bear. “It’s only half 
a mile from here on a straight road 
to Oak Valley.” 

“Very well,” agreed Father Bear, 
“but this is an important errand. You 
must not play by the way.” 

Mother Bear was about to brush 
Little Bear’s hair and freshen him up 
a bit, when suddenly something 
happened. It even made little Mewey 
Wildcat forget her brother Yowler was 
cutting teeth, and she laughed until 
she could not stand. 

Without waiting to put on his cap, 
Little Bear had sat down at the top 


ii 


162 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

of the steepest place on the hill, and 
down he went, bumpety slide, bumpety 
slide. Bumpety-bumpety slide over 
slippery pine needles he went, until 
he was at the bottom of the hill. 

Mother Bear, Father Bear, and 
Mewey stood up just in time to see 
him flying down the road to Oak 
Valley as if a circus man were after 
him. 

Still laughing, Mewey went back 
home, feeling much happier. Father 
Bear went out to rake his garden 
and get it in order for winter, while 
Mother Bear waited on the hilltop for 
Little Bear to get back. He was 
traveling so fast the last time she saw 
him she was sure he would soon be 
home again. 

Mother Bear waited a long, long 
time, but no Little Bear came in sight. 
She waited until she was so worried 
she went down to the garden where 


LITTLE BEARS ERRAND 163 

Father Bear was raking to ask him 
what he thought was the matter. 

Father Bear looked at the sun 
before he answered: “It isn’t late 



yet. He probably is playing in the 
valley beside the brook.’’ 

Mother Bear tried to feel cheerful, 
but as she went into the house to set 
the table for supper she didn’t sing as 
usual. Her heart was heavy. An hour 
passed. Two hours dragged slowly by, 




164 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

yet Little Bear was not in sight. 
When the moon began to shine and 
the stars came out, even Father Bear 
was frightened. 

“Let us walk over to Oak Valley and 
ask Mrs. Blue Jay what she knows,” he 
said. Off they started, leaving supper 
untasted on the table. 

Mrs. Blue Jay said she had not seen 
Little Bear. Yes, Friend Blue Jay did 
go to Farmlands about three o’clock. 

“Come, come!” urged Mother Bear. 
“ Let us hurry over to Maria’s and 
see if she has any news from Bob 
Wildcat. It may be Little Bear has 
been there all this time.” 

Little Bear had not been seen by 
Mrs. Maria Wildcat nor by any of the 
children, nor was Mr. Bob Wildcat 
at home. But Yowler was perfectly 
well—cured by catnip tea. 

“Let us go home now and think 
what is to be done next,” said Father 


165 


LITTLE BEAR’S ERRAND 

Bear, as he loaned Mother Bear his 
big red handkerchief because she was 
crying. 

Just think of Father and Mother 
Bear’s joy when they found the house 



There sat Little Bear, eating porridge 


door open! And there, sitting in the 
moonlight, they saw Little Bear eating 
porridge as if he were starving. 

“Where have you been?” asked 
Father Bear and Mother Bear, both 
speaking at the same time. 


166 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

“Me? I’ve been to Farmlands Gate 
to tell Mr. Bob Wildcat Yowler was 
sick. I told him Yowler’s mother said 
to come right straight home. Friend 
Blue Jay was gone, and you said it 
was an important errand.” 

“Not to Farmlands Gate, ten miles 
there and ten miles back? No!” cried 
Mother Bear. 

“Pooh! Yes!” answered Little Bear 
jauntily. 

“Did you walk all that long way 
to do an errand for the Wildcats?” 
asked Father Bear in cross tones. 

“No!” was the quick reply. “I 
ran!” 

For a minute Mother Bear looked 
at Father Bear and Father Bear looked 
at Mother Bear. Then the Two Bears 
began to laugh. They laughed until 
it seemed they never would stop. But 
they did, because Father Bear had 
to stop laughing to say something. 


LITTLE BEAR’S ERRAND 


167 


“Son Bear,” said he, “you are a 
good traveler at times. You shall go 
to Sherwood Forest tomorrow.” 

“Now let us eat supper,” said 
Mother Bear, as she filled Little Bear’s 
brown mug with blackberry juice. 

That was a merry supper, but Little 
Bear was glad to go to bed right after ' 
it was finished, because Father Bear 
said they must get an early start for 
Sherwood Forest. 



THE SURPRISE PARTY 


The year Jack Frost came late, 
Little Bear did not like to hear any 
talk about Sleepy Cave. This was 
the name of the Three Bears’ winter 
home. There were three beds in Sleepy 
Cave, all ready and waiting for the 
Three Bears—a big, big bed of fir 
boughs and moss for huge Father Bear, 
a middle-sized bed of fir boughs and 
moss for middle-sized Mother Bear, 
and a deep, deep bed of feathery moss 
for Little Bear. 

For the beds there were feathery 
moss blankets taken from fallen logs 
in the forest. There was one soft, 
warm, moss blanket for huge 
Father Bear, one for Mother Bear, and 
the softest, warmest moss blanket of 
all for Little Bear. 


168 


THE SURPRISE PARTY 


169 


Sleepy Cave was big and warm and 
dry. There was no chance for snow 
to drift into the cave, for the doorway 



was under the shelter of a broad over¬ 
hanging rock, and its back was toward 
the cold north wind. There was black¬ 
berry jam put away in that cave, and 
honeycombs and other good things to 



170 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

eat in case the family should wake up 
and feel hungry before spring. 

But Little Bear did not want to hear 
a word about Sleepy Cave. It was 
the same old story with him. He always 
began, “I don’t want to sleep all 
winter! ‘Young cub,’ Mrs. Maria 
Wildcat said, ‘you’ll never be anything 
but a Baby Bear, eating porridge out 
of a wee, wee bowl, and sitting in a 
wee, wee chair, and sleeping in a wee, 
wee bed, for another hundred years 
if you lie around and sleep all winter! 
You’ll never grow up!’ She always 
says that! And Mr. Bob Wildcat, he 
said — ” 

Mother Bear stopped him with, 
“There, there, don’t let me hear 
another word about Maria Wildcat or 
any of the Wildcat family! I think I 
said this to you once before!” 

“But I don’t want to sleep all 
winter,” whined Little Bear. “ I want 


THE SURPRISE PARTY 171 

to stay in our own little house in the 
woods and see the snow in the ever¬ 
greens. I’d love to play in the snow 
and go sliding on the ice. I want to 
stay here and eat porridge out of my 
little bowl and sit in my little chair 
and sleep in my little bed! Father 
Deer’s children don’t sleep all winter. 
They make tracks in the snow, and 
they lie down to rest in the evergreens 
and watch for their enemies in the 
middle of the day ! Father Deer told 
me about it all over again! I want 
to stay here and play all winter like 
other folks! Sally Beaver’s mother, 
she said — ” 

“Hush! Hush!’’ said Mother Bear 
“You’ve said enough!’’ 

Mother Bear spoke sternly. But by 
and by, when the little fellow went out 
and sat on the doorstep to think, she 
said to Father Bear, “Suppose we have 
a surprise party for Little Bear?” 


172 LITTLE BEAR STORIES 

“A good idea!” agreed Father Bear. 
“But there is snow in the air. If there 
is to be a party it had better be this 
afternoon. Whom do you wish to 
invite ? ” 

Mother Bear smiled as she answered, 
“Let us invite the children of all our 
friends who live in caves in the winter. 
I think that will be the pleasantest. 
We’ll invite Auntie Cinnamon’s chil¬ 
dren, and Uncle Brown Bear’s family, 
and the Porcupine twins, and the 
Field Mouse children, and the young 
Muskrats. If you will do the invit¬ 
ing, I will make blackberry jam and 
honey cakes and get the house in 
order.” 

Little Bear didn’t even ask a 
question as Father Bear started out, 
looking rather proud of his new fur 
overcoat. 

In the afternoon, as Father Bear 
and Mother Bear were happily waiting 



Mother Bear took Little Bear to the cupboard to show him the 
blackberry sandwiches and honey cakes 








































174 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


for Little Bear’s company, there came 
a knock at the door, and in came 
Auntie Cinnamon. 

“I came to say,” said she, “that 
my children cannot come to the party. 
They have gone to sleep for the winter. 
No, thank you, I cannot stay, but I 
am glad to stop in a minute to say 
good night until spring.” 

“Sleepyheads!” exclaimed Little 
Bear when Auntie Cinnamon had gone 
on her way. 

Next came Uncle Brown Bear. He 
was so plump he was out of breath 
from walking fast. He had to rest a 
minute before he could say, “Our 
children are all asleep and cannot 
come to the party. But Auntie Brown 
sent me over to say thank you, and 
good night until spring!” And away 
went Uncle Brown Bear. 

“The sleepyheads!” Little Bear 
exclaimed again, and how he laughed! 


THE SURPRISE PARTY 


175 


“But where is the party, Mother Bear? 
Am I invited?” 

Just then came another knock at 
the door, and Mother Porcupine 
walked in to say the twins were 
tucked away in bed for the winter. 
So they could not come to Little Bear’s 
surprise party. 

Little Bear was so pleased when he 
learned he was to have a surprise 
party that he wasn’t disappointed 
when the laughing Blue Jay came 
with a message from the Field Mouse 
mother saying the Field Mouse children 
just couldn't keep their eyes open, 
they were so sleepy. So of course 
they could not come to the party. 

“I’ll sit by the window and see 
who does come,” said Little Bear, 
happy as he could be, thinking of the 
party. 

Now no one else had been invited 
to the party. So Mother Bear took 


176 


LITTLE BEAR STORIES 


Little Bear to the cupboard to show 
him the blackberry sandwiches and 
honey cakes. Then Father Bear 
stepped out to ask Friend Blue Jay 
please to fly quickly away and invite 
the Wildcat children and the young 
Squirrels and Chipmunks and Foxes to 
come immediately to the party. 

The Blue Jay flew joyfully away 
to do this errand. And soon dozens 
of chattering, noisy wildwood children 
came to the party. 

But when they reached the house 
they found Little Bear sound asleep with 
a smile on his face, dreaming of the 
party ! The merry children could not 
waken him, although they tried their 
best, for they wished to share with him 
the blackberry jam and honey cakes. 

Late that afternoon, when the party 
was over and the frolicking children 
had gone, Father Bear took Little Bear 
in his arms, and Mother Bear closed 


THE SURPRISE PARTY 177 

the house. Then away went the Three 
Bears to Sleepy Cave. 

When Little Bear was snugly 
tucked in his feathery moss bed, 
Mother Bear kissed him and said, 
“I’m so glad the little fellow was 
happy when he went to sleep.” 

And that very night it snowed, 
and snowed—and snowed! 
























































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